diff --git "a/data/test/26183.txt" "b/data/test/26183.txt" --- "a/data/test/26183.txt" +++ "b/data/test/26183.txt" @@ -1,8513 +1,8513 @@ - - - - -Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -[Transcriber’s Note: - -This text uses utf-8 (unicode) file encoding. If the apostrophes and -quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, make sure your -text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode -(UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. As a last -resort, use the latin-1 version of the file instead. - -Forms such as 8^o, 12^o with superscript “o” have been changed to 8vo, -12mo. Typographical errors are listed at the end of the text.] - - - - - LAURENCE STERNE - IN GERMANY - - A Contribution to the Study of the - Literary Relations of England and - Germany in the Eighteenth Century - - - By - - HARVEY WATERMAN THAYER, Ph.D. - - Sometime Fellow in Germanic Languages and - Literatures, Columbia University - - - - -Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press, New York - - - - -NOTE - - -Mr. Thayer has undertaken to write, in detail and from the sources, the -history of Sterne’s vogue in Germany. As thus broadly defined the task -had not before been attempted, although phases of it had been treated, -more or less thoroughly, in recent monographs. The work here submitted, -the result of careful research in a number of American and European -libraries, is in my judgment an interesting and valuable contribution to -our knowledge of the literary relations of England and Germany at the -time of the great renascence of German letters. - - CALVIN THOMAS. - - Columbia University, May, 1905. - - - - -PREFACE - - -The following study was begun in the autumn of 1901, and was practically -finished now more than a year ago. Since its completion two works of -interest to lovers of Sterne have been issued, Czerny’s study of -Sterne’s influence upon Hippel and Jean Paul, a work which the present -author had planned as a continuation of this book, and Prof. Cross’s new -definitive edition of Sterne. - -I desire here to express my thanks to Prof. W. H. Carpenter, Prof. -Calvin Thomas and Prof. W. P. Trent, under whose guidance my last year -of University residence was spent: their interest in my work was -generous and unfailing; their admirable scholarship has been and will -continue to be an inspiration. I am indebted to Prof. Carpenter and -Prof. Thomas for many helpful suggestions regarding the present work, -and the latter especially has given freely of his valuable time to a -consideration of my problems. I am grateful also to several other -friends for helpful and kindly service, and to many librarians in this -country and in Europe for their courtesy. - - NEW YORK, May 1, 1905. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Chapter I. Introduction 1 - - Chapter II. Sterne in Germany before the Publication - of The Sentimental Journey 9 - - Chapter III. The Publication of The Sentimental Journey 35 - - Chapter IV. Sterne in Germany after the Publication of - The Sentimental Journey 55 - - Chapter V. Sterne’s Influence in Germany 84 - - Chapter VI. Imitators of Sterne 112 - - Chapter VII. Opposition to Sterne and His Type of - Sentimentalism 156 - - Chapter VIII. Bibliography 183 - - Index 196 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTION - - -The indebtedness of German culture to other peoples has been the theme -of much painstaking investigation. The history of German literature is, -in large measure, the story of its successive periods of connection with -the literatures of other lands, and hence scholars have sought with -industry and insight to bound and explain such literary inter-relations. - -The latter half of the eighteenth century was a period of predominant -English influence. The first half of the century had fostered this -ascendency through the popularity of the moral weeklies, the religious -epic, and the didactic poetry of Britain. Admiration for English ideals -was used as a weapon to combat French dominion in matters of taste, till -a kind of Anglomania spread, which was less absolute than the waning -Gallomania had been, only in such measure as the nature of the imitated -lay nearer the German spirit and hence allowed and cherished a parallel -independence rather than demanded utter subjection. Indeed, the study of -English masters may be said to have contributed more than any other -external cause to the golden age of German letters; to have worked with -untold beneficence in bringing faltering Germany to a consciousness of -her own inherent possibilities. This fact of foreign awakening of -national greatness through kinship of inborn racial characteristics -removes the seeming inconsistency that British influence was paramount -at the very time of Germany’s most individual, most national, outburst. - -The German literary world concerned itself zealously with each new -development across the channel. The German literary periodicals were -diligent and alert in giving their subscribers adequate intelligence -concerning new books in England,[1] and various journals[2] devoted -exclusively to a retailing of English thought for German readers are by -their very existence eloquent testimony to the supreme interest in -things British. Through the medium of these literary journals, -intelligence concerning British literary interests was disseminated, -and the way was thus prepared for the reception of the British authors -themselves. Every English writer of eminence, every English literary -movement was in some way or other echoed in the literature of the German -fatherland. English authors were read in the original, and in numerous -and popular translations. A German following is a well-nigh certain -inference from an English success. Sometimes the growth of German -appreciation and imitation was immediate and contemporaneous, or nearly -so, with the English interest, as in the case of the German enthusiasm -for Bishop Percy’s “Reliques.” At other times it tarried behind the -period of interest in England, and was gradual in its development. The -suggestion that a book, especially a novel, was translated from the -English was an assurance of its receiving consideration, and many -original German novels were published under the guise of English -translations. Hermes roguishly avoids downright falsehood, and yet -avails himself of this popular trend by describing his “Miss Fanny -Wilkes” upon the title page as “So gut als aus dem Englischen -übersetzt,” and printing “so gut als” in very small type. Müller in a -letter[3] to Gleim, dated at Cassel, May 27, 1781, proposes to alter -names in Liscow’s works and to publish his books as an English -translation: “Germany would read him with delight,” he says, and Gleim, -in his reply, finds the idea “splendid.” Out of this one reads clearly -how the Germany of that time was hanging on the lips of England. - -As has been suggested, conscious or unconscious imitation in the home -literature is the unavoidable result of admiration for the foreign; -imitation of English masters is written large on this period of German -letters. Germany is especially indebted to the stirring impulse of the -English novel. - -The intellectual development of a people is observable in its successive -periods of interest in different kinds of narration, in its attitude -toward the relation of fictitious events. The interest in the -extraordinary always precedes that in the ordinary; the unstored mind -finds pleasure only in the unusual. An appreciation of the absorbing, -vital interest of everyday existence is the accomplishment of reflective -training, and betokens the spiritualized nature. Yet it must be observed -in passing that the crude interest of unschooled ignorance, and -undeveloped taste in the grotesque, the monstrous, the unreal, is not -the same as the intellectual man’s appreciation of the unreal in -imagination and fancy. The German novel had passed its time of service -under the wild, extraordinary and grotesque. The crudities of such tales -of adventure were softened and eliminated by the culturing influence of -formal classicism and by a newly won admiration for the everyday element -in life, contemporaneous with and dependent upon the gradual -appreciation of middle-class worth. At this point the English novel -stepped in as a guide, and the gradual shaping of the German novel in -the direction of an art-form is due primarily to the prevailing -admiration of English models. - -The novel has never been a characteristic method of German -self-expression, while if any form of literary endeavor can be -designated as characteristically English, the novel may claim this -distinction; that is, more particularly the novel as distinguished from -the romance. “Robinson Crusoe” (1719) united the elements of the -extraordinary and the everyday, being the practical, unromantic account -of a remarkable situation; and its extensive vogue in Germany, the -myriad confessed imitations, may be said to form a kind of transition -of interests. In it the commonplace gains interest through the -extraordinary situation. Such an awakening assures a certain measure -of interest remaining over for the detailed relation of the everyday -activities of life, when removed from the exceptional situation. Upon -this vantage ground the novel of everyday life was built. Near the -mid-century comes another mighty influence from England, Richardson, -who brings into the narration of middle-class, everyday existence, the -intense analysis of human sensibilities. Richardson taught Germany to -remodel her theories of heroism, her whole system of admirations, her -conception of deserts. Rousseau’s voice from France spoke out a stirring -appeal for the recognition of human feelings. Fielding, though attacking -Richardson’s exaggeration of manner, and opposing him in his excess of -emotionalism, yet added a forceful influence still in favor of the real, -present and ordinary, as exemplified in the lives of vigorous human -beings. - -England’s leadership in narrative fiction, the superiority of the -English novel, especially the humorous novel, which was tacitly -acknowledged by these successive periods of imitation, when not actually -declared by the acclaim of the critic and the preference of the reading -public, has been attributed quite generally to the freedom of life in -England and the comparative thraldom in Germany. Gervinus[4] enlarges -upon this point, the possibility in Britain of individual development in -character and in action as compared with the constraint obtaining in -Germany, where originality, banished from life, was permissible only in -opinion. His ideas are substantially identical with those expressed many -years before in an article in the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen -Wissenschaften_[5] entitled “Ueber die Laune.” Lichtenberg in his brief -essay, “Ueber den deutschen Roman,”[6] is undoubtedly more than half -serious in his arraignment of the German novel and his acknowledgment of -the English novelist’s advantage: the trend of this satirical skit -coincides with the opinion above outlined, the points he makes being -characteristic of his own humorous bent. That the English sleep in -separate apartments, with big chimneys in their bedchambers, that they -have comfortable post-chaises with seats facing one another, where all -sorts of things may happen, and merry inns for the accommodation of the -traveler,--these features of British life are represented as affording a -grateful material to the novelist, compared with which German life -offers no corresponding opportunity. Humor, as a characteristic element -of the English novel, has been felt to be peculiarly dependent upon the -fashion of life in Britain. Blankenburg, another eighteenth-century -student of German literary conditions, in his treatise on the novel[7], -has similar theories concerning the sterility of German life as compared -with English, especially in the production of humorous characters[8]. He -asserts theoretically that humor (Laune) should never be employed in a -novel of German life, because “Germany’s political institutions and -laws, and our nice Frenchified customs would not permit this humor.” “On -the one side,” he goes on to say, “is Gothic formality; on the other, -frivolity.” Later in the volume (p. 191) he confines the use of humorous -characters to subordinate rôles; otherwise, he says, the tendency to -exaggeration would easily awaken displeasure and disgust. Yet in a -footnote, prompted by some misgiving as to his theory, Blankenburg -admits that much is possible to genius and cites English novels where a -humorous character appears with success in the leading part; thus the -theorist swerves about, and implies the lack of German genius in this -regard. Eberhard in his “Handbuch der Aesthetik,”[9] in a rather -unsatisfactory and confused study of humor, expresses opinions agreeing -with those cited above, and states that in England the feeling of -independence sanctions the surrender of the individual to eccentric -humor: hence England has produced more humorists than all the rest of -the world combined. There is, however, at least one voice raised to -explain in another way this deficiency of humor in German letters. -A critic in the _Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[10] attributes -this lack not to want of original characters but to a lack of men like -Cervantes, Ben Jonson, Butler, Addison, Fielding. - -There is undoubtedly some truth in both points of view, but the defects -of the eighteenth century German novel are due in larger measure to the -peculiar mental organization of German authorship than to lack of -interesting material in German life. The German novel was crushed under -the weight of pedantry and pedagogy. Hillebrand strikes the root of the -matter when he says,[11] “We are all schoolmasters, even Hippel could -not get away from the tutorial attitude.” The inborn necessity of German -culture is to impart information, to seek recruits for the maintenance -of some idea, to exploit some political, educational, or moral theory. -This irresistible impulse has left its trail over German fiction. -The men who wrote novels, as soon as they began to observe, began to -theorize, and the results of this speculation were inevitably embodied -in their works. They were men of mind rather than men of deeds, who -minimized the importance of action and exaggerated the reflective, -the abstract, the theoretical, the inner life of man. Hettner,[12] with -fine insight, points to the introduction to “Sebaldus Nothanker” as -exhibiting the characteristic of this epoch of fiction. Speculation was -the hero’s world, and in speculation lay for him the important things of -life; he knew not the real world, hence speculation concerning it was -his occupation. Consequential connection of events with character makes -the English novel the mirror of English life. Failure to achieve such a -union makes the German novel a mirror of speculative opinions concerning -life. - -Hence we have Germany in the mid-eighteenth century prepared to accept -and adopt any literary dogma, especially when stamped with an English -popularity, which shall represent an interest rather in extraordinary -characters and unusual opinions than in astounding adventure; which -shall display a knowledge of human feeling and foster the exuberant -expression of it. - -Beside the devotees of any literary fashion are those who analyze -philosophically the causes, and forecast the probable results of such a -following. Thinking Germany became exercised over these facts of -successive intellectual and literary dependence, as indicative of -national limitations or foreboding disintegration. And thought was -accordingly directed to the study of the influence of imitation upon the -imitator, the effects of the imitative process upon national -characteristics, as well as the causes of imitation, the fundamental -occasion for national bondage in matters of life and letters. The part -played by Dr. Edward Young’s famous epistle to Richardson, “Conjectures -on Original Composition” (London, 1759), in this struggle for -originality is considerable. The essay was reprinted, translated and -made the theme of numerous treatises and discussions.[13] One needs only -to mention the concern of Herder, as displayed in the “Fragmente über -die neuere deutsche Litteratur,” and his statement[14] with reference to -the predicament as realized by thoughtful minds may serve as a summing -up of that part of the situation. “Seit der Zeit ist keine Klage lauter -and häufiger als über den Mangel von Originalen, von Genies, von -Erfindern, Beschwerden über die Nachahmungs- und gedankenlose -Schreibsucht der Deutschen.” - -This thoughtful study of imitation itself was accompanied by more or -less pointed opposition to the heedless importation of foreign views, -and protests, sometimes vigorous and keen, sometimes flimsy and silly, -were entered against the slavish imitation of things foreign. Endeavor -was turned toward the establishment of independent ideals, and the -fostering of a taste for the characteristically national in literature, -as opposed to frank imitation and open borrowing.[15] - -The story of Laurence Sterne in Germany is an individual example of -sweeping popularity, servile admiration, extensive imitation and -concomitant opposition. - - - [Footnote 1: This is well illustrated by the words prefaced to the - revived and retitled _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, which state - the purpose of the periodical: “Besonders wird man für den - Liebhaber der englischen Litteratur dahin sorgen, dass ihm kein - einziger Artikel, der seiner Aufmerksamkeit würdig ist, entgehe, - und die Preise der englischen Bücher wo möglich allzeit bemerken.” - (_Frankfurter gel. Anz._, 1772, No. 1, January 3.)] - - [Footnote 2: Elze, “Die Englische Sprache und Litteratur in - Deutschland,” gives what purports to be a complete list of these - German-English periodicals in chronological order, but he begins - his register with Eschenburg’s _Brittisches Museum für die - Deutschen_, 1777-81, thus failing to mention the more significant, - because earlier, journals: _die Brittische Bibliothek_, which - appeared first in 1759 in Leipzig, edited by Karl Wilhelm Müller: - and _Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, Künste - und Tugend, Von einigen Liebhabern derselben mehrentheils aus den - Englischen Monatsschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben_, Bremen - and Leipzig, 1757-1766, when the _Neues Bremisches Magazin_ - begins.] - - [Footnote 3: Briefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleim’s Nachlass. - Bd. II, p. 213.] - - [Footnote 4: “Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung,” V, pp. 184 ff. - The comparative inferiority of the German novel is discussed by - l’Abbé Dénina in “La Prusse Littéraire sous Frédéric II,” Berlin, - 1791. Vol. I, pp. 112 ff. See also Julian Schmidt, “Bilder aus dem - geistigen Leben unserer Zeit.” Leipzig, 1870. IV, pp. 270 ff.] - - [Footnote 5: III, pp. 1 ff.] - - [Footnote 6: Vermischte Schriften, II, p. 215.] - - [Footnote 7: “Versuch über den Roman.” Frankfort and Leipzig, - 1774, p. 528. This study contains frequent allusions to Sterne and - occasional quotation from his works, pp. 48, 191, 193, 200, 210, - 273, 351, 365, 383, 426.] - - [Footnote 8: There is a similar tribute to English humor in “Ueber - die moralische Schönheit und Philosophie des Lebens.” Altenburg, - 1772, p. 199. Compare also Herder’s opinion in “Ideen zur - Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und bildenden Künste,” 1794-96, - No. 49, in “Abhandlungen und Briefe über schöne Literatur und - Kunst.” Tübingen, 1806, I, pp. 375-380; compare also passages in - his “Fragmente” and “Wäldchen.”] - - [Footnote 9: Second edition, Halle, 1807, II, pp. 309 ff. The - definition of humor and the perplexing question as to how far it - is identical with “Laune,” have received considerable attention at - the hands of aesthetic critics; compare, for example, Lessing in - the “Hamburgische Dramaturgie.”] - - [Footnote 10: VII. p. 353. 1761.] - - [Footnote 11: “Deutsche Nationalliteratur,” II, p. 535. Hamburg, - 1850.] - - [Footnote 12: “Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im achtzehnten - Jahrhundert,” III, 1, pp. 363 ff.] - - [Footnote 13: See Introduction to “Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten - der Litteratur” in Seuffert’s Deutsche Litteraturdenkmale des 18. - und 19. Jahrhunderts. The literature of this study of imitation in - the Germany of the second half of the eighteenth century is - considerable. The effort of much in the Litteratur-Briefe may be - mentioned as contributing to this line of thought. The prize - question of the Berlin Academy for 1788 brought forth a book - entitled: “Wie kann die Nachahmung sowohl alter als neuer fremden - Werke der schönen Wissenschaften des vaterländischen Geschmack - entwickeln und vervollkommnen?” by Joh. Chr. Schwabe, professor in - Stuttgart. (Berlin, pp. 120; reviewed in _Allg. Litt. Zeitung._ - 1790. I, pp. 632-640.) Perhaps the first English essay upon German - imitation of British masters is that in the _Critical Journal_, - Vol. III, which was considered of sufficient moment for a German - translation. See _Morgenblatt_, I, Nr. 162, July 8, 1807. A writer - in the _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neusten deutschen Litteratur_ - (Lemgo, 1772-3), in an article entitled “Vom Zustande des - Geschmacks beim deutschen Publikum,” traces the tendency to - imitate to the German capacity for thinking rather than for - feeling. (III, pp. 683 ff.) “Das deutsche Publikum,” he says, - “scheint dazu bestimmt zu seyn, nachzuahmen, nachzuurtheilen, - nachzuempfinden.” Justus Möser condemns his fellow countrymen - soundly for their empty imitation. See fragment published in - “Sämmtliche Werke,” edited by B. R. Abeken. Berlin, 1858. IV, - pp. 104-5.] - - [Footnote 14: Herder’s sämmtliche Werke, edited by B. Suphan, - Berlin, Weidman, 1877, I, 254. In the tenth fragment (second - edition) he says the Germans have imitated other nations, “so dass - Nachahmer beinahe zum Beiwort und zur zweiten Sylbe unseres Namens - geworden.” See II, p. 51. Many years later Herder does not seem to - view this period of imitation with such regret as the attitude of - these earlier criticisms would forecast. In the “Ideen zur - Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und bildenden Künste,” 1794-96, - he states with a burst of enthusiasm over the adaptability of the - German language that he regards imitation as no just reproach, for - thereby has Germany become immeasurably the richer.] - - [Footnote 15: The kind of praise bestowed on Hermes’s “Sophiens - Reise” is a case in point; it was greeted as the first real German - novel, the traces of English imitation being hardly noticeable. - See _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, Vol. I, St. 2, pp. 245-251, - 1772, signed “Kl.” Sattler’s “Friederike” was accorded a similar - welcome of German patriotism; see _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, - III, St. 1, p. 233. The “Litterarische Reise durch Deutschland” - (Leipzig, 1786, p. 82) calls “Sophiens Reise” the first original - German novel. See also the praise of Von Thümmel’s “Wilhelmine” - and “Sophiens Reise” in Blankenburg’s “Versuch über den Roman,” - pp. 237-9. Previously Germans had often hesitated to lay the - scenes of their novels in Germany, and in many others English - characters traveling or residing in Germany supply the un-German - element.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -STERNE IN GERMANY BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY - - -It is no exaggeration to assert that the works of Yorick obtained and -still retain a relatively more substantial position of serious -consideration and recognized merit in France and Germany than in the -countries where Sterne’s own tongue is spoken.[1] His place among the -English classics has, from the foreign point of view, never been a -dubious question, a matter of capricious taste and unstable ideals. His -peculiar message, whether interpreted and insisted upon with clearness -of insight, or blindness of misunderstanding, played its not unimportant -part in certain developments of continental literatures, and his station -in English literature, as viewed from a continental standpoint, is -naturally in part the reflex of the magnitude of his influence in the -literature of France and Germany, rather than an estimate obtained -exclusively from the actual worth of his own accomplishment, and the -nature of his own service as a leader and innovator in English letters. - -Sterne’s career in German literature, the esteem in which his own works -have been held, and the connection between the sentimental, whimsical, -contradictory English clergyman and his German imitators have been -noted, generally speaking, by all the historians of literature; and -several monographs and separate articles have been published on single -phases of the theme.[2] As yet, however, save for the investigations -which treat only of two or three authors, there has been hardly more -than the general statement of the facts, often inadequate, incomplete, -and sometimes inexact. - -Sterne’s period of literary activity falls in the sixties, the very -heyday of British supremacy in Germany. The fame of Richardson was -hardly dimmed, though Musäus ridiculed his extravagances in “Grandison -der Zweite” (1760) at the beginning of the decade. In 1762-66 Wieland’s -Shakespeare translation appeared, and his original works of the period, -“Agathon,” begun in 1761, and “Don Silvio von Rosalva,” published in -1764, betray the influence of both Richardson and Fielding. Ebert -(1760--) revised and republished his translation of Young’s “Night -Thoughts,” which had attained popularity in the previous decade. -Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield” (1766) aroused admiration and -enthusiasm. To this time too belongs Ossian’s mighty voice. As early as -1762 the first bardic translations appeared, and Denis’s work came out -in 1768. Percy’s “Reliques,” published in England in 1765, were -extensively read and cited, a stimulating force to parallel German -activity. A selection from the “Reliques” appeared in Göttingen in 1767. - -The outlook maintained in Germany for the worthy in British thought, -the translatable, the reproducible, was so vigilant and, in general, -so discerning that the introduction of Yorick into Germany was all but -inevitable. The nature of the literary relations then obtaining and -outlined above would forecast and almost necessitate such an adoption, -and his very failure to secure recognition would demand an explanation. - -Before the publication of Tristram Shandy it would be futile to seek for -any knowledge of Sterne on German soil. He had published, as is well -known, two sermons preached on occasions of note; and a satirical skit, -with kindly purpose, entitled “The History of a Good Warm Watchcoat,” -had been written, privately circulated, and then suppressed; yet he was -an unknown and comparatively insignificant English clergyman residing in -a provincial town, far, in those days very far, from those centers of -life which sent their enlightenment over the channel to the continent. -His fame was purely local. His sermons had, without doubt, rendered the -vicar of Sutton a rather conspicuous ecclesiastic throughout that -region; his eccentricities were presumably the talk of neighboring -parishes; the cathedral town itself probably tittered at his drolleries, -and chattered over his sentiments; his social graces undoubtedly found -recognition among county families and in provincial society, and his -reputation as a wit had probably spread in a vague, uncertain, -transitory fashion beyond the boundaries of the county. Yet the facts of -local notoriety and personal vogue are without real significance save in -the light of later developments; and we may well date his career in the -world of books from the year 1760, when the London world began to smile -over the first volumes of Tristram Shandy. From internal evidence in -these early volumes it is possible to note with some assurance the -progress of their composition and the approximate time of their -completion. In his wayward, fitful way, and possibly for his own -amusement more than with dreams of fame and fortune,[3] Sterne probably -began the composition of Shandy in January, 1759, and the completion of -the first installment is assigned to the summer or early autumn of that -year. At the end of the year[4] the first edition of the first two -volumes was issued in York, bearing the imprint of John Hinxham. Dodsley -and Cooper undertook the sale of the volumes in London, though the -former had declined to be responsible for the publication. They were -ready for delivery in the capital on the first day of the new year 1760. -Sterne’s fame was immediate; his personal triumph was complete and ranks -with the great successes in the history of our literature. On his -arrival in London in March, the world aristocratic, ecclesiastic, -and literary was eager to receive the new favorite, and his career of -bewildering social enjoyment, vigorous feasting and noteworthy privilege -began. “No one”, says Forster, “was so talked of in London this year -and no one so admired as the tall, thin, hectic-looking Yorkshire -parson.”[5] From this time on until his death Sterne was a most -conspicuous personage in English society, a striking, envied figure -in English letters. - -And yet it was some time before Germany learned of the new prodigy: for -reasons which will be treated later, the growth of the Sterne cult in -Germany was delayed, so that Yorick was in the plenitude of his German -fame when England had begun to look askance at him with critical, -fault-finding eye, or to accord him the more damning condemnation of -forgetfulness. - -The first mention of Sterne’s name in Germany may well be the brief word -in the _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_[6] for January 19, -1762, in a letter from the regular London correspondent, dated January -8. In a tone of particularity which would mark the introduction of a new -and strange personality into his communications, the correspondent -states the fact of Sterne’s departure for Paris in pursuit of lost -health. This journal may further be taken as an example of those which -devoted a remarkable amount of space to British affairs, since it was -published in the North German seaport town, where the mercantile -connection with Britain readily fostered the exchange of other than -purely commercial commodities. And yet in Hamburg Sterne waited full two -years for a scanty recognition even of his English fame. - -In the fourth year after the English publication of Shandy comes the -first attempt to transplant Sterne’s gallery of originals to German -shores. This effort, of rather dubious success, is the Zückert -translation of Tristram Shandy, a rendering weak and inaccurate, but -nevertheless an important first step in the German Shandy cult. Johann -Friedrich Zückert,[7] the translator, was born December 19, 1739, and -died in Berlin May 1, 1778. He studied medicine at the University of -Frankfurt an der Oder, became a physician in Berlin, but, because of -bodily disabilities, devoted himself rather to study and society than to -the practice of his profession. His publications are fairly numerous and -deal principally with medical topics, especially with the question of -foods. In the year after the appearance of his Shandy translation, -Zückert published an essay which indicates the direction of his tastes -and gives a clue to his interest in Tristram. It was entitled -“Medizinische und Moralische Abhandlung von den Leidenschaften,”[8] and -discloses a tendency on the part of the author to an analysis of the -passions and moods of man, an interest in the manner of their -generation, and the method of their working. This treatise was quite -probably written, or conceived, while its author was busied with Shandy, -and his division of the temperaments (p. 53) into the sanguine or warm -moist, the choleric or warm dry, the phlegmatic or cold moist, and the -melancholy or cold dry, is not unlike some of Walter Shandy’s -half-serious, half-jesting scientific theories, though, to be sure, it -falls in with much of the inadequate and ill-applied terminology of the -time. - -Zückert’s translation of the first six parts[9] of Tristram Shandy -appeared in 1763, and bore the imprint of the publisher Lange, Berlin -und Stralsund. The title read “Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn -Tristram Shandy,” the first of the long series of “Leben und Meynungen” -which flooded the literature of the succeeding decades, this becoming a -conventional title for a novel. It is noteworthy that until the -publication of parts VII and VIII in 1765, there is no mention of the -real author’s name. To these later volumes the translator prefaces a -statement which contains some significant intelligence concerning his -aim and his interpretation of Sterne’s underlying purpose. He says he -would never have ventured on the translation of so ticklish a book if he -had foreseen the difficulties; that he believed such a translation would -be a real service to the German public, and that he never fancied the -critics could hold him to the very letter, as in the rendering of a -classic author. He confesses to some errors and promises corrections in -a possible new edition. He begs the public to judge the translation in -accord with its purpose “to delight and enliven the public and to -acquaint the Germans with a really wonderful genius.” To substantiate -his statement relative to the obstacles in his way, he outlines in a few -words Sterne’s peculiar, perplexing style, as regards both use of -language and the arrangement of material. He conceives Sterne’s purpose -as a desire to expose to ridicule the follies of his countrymen and to -incorporate serious truths into the heart of his jesting. - -Since the bibliographical facts regarding the subsequent career of this -Zückert translation have been variously mangled and misstated, it may be -well, though it depart somewhat from the regular chronological order of -the narrative, to place this information here in connection with the -statement of its first appearance. The translation, as published in -1763, contained only the first six parts of Sterne’s work. In 1765 the -seventh and eighth parts were added, and in 1767 a ninth appeared, but -the latter was a translation of a spurious English original.[10] In -1769, the shrewd publisher began to issue a new and slightly altered -edition of the translation, which bore, however, on the title page “nach -einer neuen Uebersetzung” and the imprint, Berlin und Stralsund bey -Gottlieb August Langen, Parts I and II being dated 1769; Parts III and -IV, 1770; Parts V, VI, VII and VIII, 1771; Part IX, 1772. Volumes -III-VIII omit Stralsund as a joint place of publication. In 1773, when -it became noised abroad that Bode, the successful and honored translator -of the Sentimental Journey, was at work upon a German rendering of -Shandy, Lange once more forced his wares upon the market, this time -publishing the Zückert translation with the use of Wieland’s then -influential name on the title page, “Auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofraths -Wielands verfasst.” Wieland was indignant at this misuse of his name and -repudiated all connection with this “new translation.” This edition was -probably published late in 1773, as Wieland in his review in the -_Merkur_ gives it that date, but the volumes themselves bear the date of -1774.[11] We learn from the _Merkur_ (VI. 363) that Zückert was not -responsible for the use of Wieland’s name. - -These are the facts of the case. Meusel in his account of Zückert gives -the date of the first edition as 1774, and the second edition is -registered but the date is left blank. Jördens, probably depending on -the information given by the review in the _Merkur_, to which reference -is made, assigns 1773 as the date. This edition, as is shown above, is -really the third. - -This Zückert translation is first reviewed by the above mentioned -_Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_ in the issue for January -4, 1764. The review, however, was not calculated to lure the German -reader of the periodical to a perusal either of the original, or of the -rendering in question: it is concerned almost exclusively with a summary -of the glaring inaccuracies in the first nineteen pages of the work and -with correct translations of the same; and it is in no sense of the word -an appreciation of the book. The critic had read Shandy in the original, -and had believed that no German hack translator[12] would venture a -version in the language of the fatherland. It is a review which shows -only the learning of the reviewer, displays the weakness of the -translator, but gives no idea of the nature of the book itself, not even -a glimpse of the critic’s own estimate of the book, save the implication -that he himself had understood the original, though many Englishmen even -were staggered by its obtuseness and failed to comprehend the subtlety -of its allusion. It is criticism in the narrowest, most arrogant sense -of the word, destructive instead of informing, blinding instead of -illuminating. It is noteworthy that Sterne’s name is nowhere mentioned -in the review, nor is there a hint of Tristram’s English popularity. The -author of this unsigned criticism is not to be located with certainty, -yet it may well have been Bode, the later apostle of Sterne-worship in -Germany. Bode was a resident of Hamburg at this time, was exceptionally -proficient in English and, according to Jördens[13] and Schröder,[14] he -was in 1762-3 the editor of the _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer -Correspondent_. The precise date when Bode severed his connection with -the paper is indeterminate, yet this, the second number of the new year -1764, may have come under his supervision even if his official -connection ended exactly with the close of the old year. To be sure, -when Bode ten years later published his own version of Shandy, he -translated, with the exception of two rather insignificant cases, none -of the passages verbally the same as the reviewer in this journal, but -it would be unreasonable to attach any great weight to this fact. Eight -or nine years later, when undertaking the monumental task of rendering -the whole of Shandy into German, it is not likely that Bode would recall -the old translations he had made in this review or concern himself about -them. A brief comparison of the two sets of translations suggests that -the critic was striving merely for accuracy in correcting the errors of -Zückert, and that Bode in his formal translation shows a riper and more -certain feeling for the choice of words; the effect of purposeful -reflection is unmistakable. Of course this in no way proves Bode to have -been the reviewer, but the indications at least allow the probability. - -As was promised in the preface to Parts VII and VIII, to which reference -has already been made, the new edition was regarded as an opportunity -for correction of errors, but this bettering is accomplished with such -manifest carelessness and ignorance as to suggest a further possibility, -that the publisher, Lange, eager to avail himself of the enthusiasm for -Sterne, which burst out on the publication of the Sentimental Journey, -thrust this old translation on the public without providing for thorough -revision, or complete correction of flagrant errors. The following -quotations will suffice to demonstrate the inadequacy of the revision: - - ORIGINAL - - ZUECKERT TRANSLATION - - I, p. 6: Well, you may take my word that nine parts in ten of a - man’s sense or his nonsense, - - P. 5: Gut, ich gebe euch mein Wort, dass neun unter zehnmal eines - jeden Witz oder Dummheit. - - (The second edition replaces “Witz” by “Verstand,” which does not - alter the essential error of the rendering.) - - P. 7: The minutest philosophers. - - “Die strengsten Philosophen” remains unchanged in second edition. - - P. 7: Being guarded and circumscribed with rights. - - P. 3: “Ein Wesen das ebenfalls seine Vorzüge hat” is unaltered. - - P. 8: A most unaccountable obliquity in the manner of setting up - my top. - - Meine seltsame Ungeschicklichkeit meinen Kopf zu recht zu machen. - -This last astounding translation is retained in the second edition in -spite of the reviewers’ ridicule, but the most nonsensical of all the -renderings, whereby “the momentum of the coach horse was so great” -becomes “der Augenblick des Kutschpferdes war so gross” is fortunately -corrected.[15] - -These examples of slipshod alteration or careless retention contrast -quite unfavorably with the attitude of the translator in the preface to -parts VII and VIII, in which he confesses to the creeping in of errors -in consequence of the perplexities of the rendering, and begs for -“reminders and explanations” of this and that passage, thereby -displaying an eagerness to accept hints for emendation. This is -especially remarkable when it is noted that he has in the second edition -not even availed himself of the corrections given in the _Hamburgischer -unpartheyischer Correspondent_, and has allowed some of the most -extraordinary blunders to stand. These facts certainly favor the theory -that Zückert himself had little or nothing to do with the second edition -and its imperfect revision. This supposition finds further evidence in -the fact that the ninth part of Shandy, as issued by Lange in the second -(1772) and third (1774) editions, was still a translation of the -spurious English volume, although the fraud was well known and the -genuine volume was read and appreciated. Of this genuine last part Dr. -Zückert never made a translation. It may be remarked in passing that a -translation bristling with such errors, blunders which at times degrade -the text into utter nonsense, could hardly be an efficient one in -spreading appreciation of Shandy. - -A little more than a year after the review in the _Hamburgischer -unpartheyischer Correspondent_, which has been cited, the _Jenaische -Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ in the number dated March 1, 1765, -treats Sterne’s masterpiece in its German disguise. This is the first -mention of Sterne’s book in the distinctively literary journals. The -tone of this review is further that of an introducer of the new, and the -critique is manifestly inserted in the paper as an account of a new -book. The reviewer is evidently unaware of the author’s name, since the -words which accompany the title, from the English, are nowhere -elucidated, and no hint of authorship, or popularity in England, or -possible far-reaching appeal in Germany is traceable. The idea of the -hobby-horse is new to the reviewer and his explanation of it implies -that he presumed Sterne’s use of the term would be equally novel to the -readers of the periodical. His compliment to the translation indicates -further that he was unacquainted with the review in the _Hamburgischer -unpartheyischer Correspondent_. - -A little more than a year later, June 13, 1766, this same journal, under -the caption “London,” reviews the Becket and de Hondt four-volume -edition of the “Sermons of Mr. Yorick.” The critic thinks a warning -necessary: “One should not be deceived by the title: the author’s name -is not Yorick,” and then he adds the information of the real authorship. -This is a valid indication that, in the opinion of the reviewer, the -name Yorick would not be sufficiently linked in the reader’s mind with -the personality of Sterne and the fame of his first great book, to -preclude the possibility, or rather probability, of error. This state of -affairs is hardly reconcilable with any widespread knowledge of the -first volumes of Shandy. The criticism of the sermons which follows -implies, on the reviewer’s part, an acquaintance with Sterne, with -Tristram, a “whimsical and roguish novel which would in our land be but -little credit to a clergyman,” and with the hobby-horse idea. The spirit -of the review is, however, quite possibly prompted, and this added -information supplied, by the London correspondent, and retold only with -a savor of familiarity by this critic; for at the end of this -communication this London correspondent is credited with the suggestion -that quite probably the sermons were never actually preached. - -The first mention of Sterne in the _Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_ is -in the number for November 15, 1764. In the report from London is a -review[16] of the fifth edition of Yorick’s Sermons, published by -Dodsley in two volumes, 1764. To judge by the tenor of his brief -appreciation, the reviewer does not anticipate any knowledge of Sterne -whatsoever or of Shandy among the readers of the periodical. He states -that the sermons had aroused much interest in England because of their -authorship “by Lorenz Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, a book in which -a remarkable humor is exhibited.” He mentions also that the sermon on -the conscience had already been published in the novel, but is ignorant -of its former and first appearance. Three years later, July 20, -1767,[17] the same periodical devotes a long critical review to the -four-volume London edition of the sermons. The publisher’s name is not -given, but it is the issue of Becket and de Hondt. The restating of -elementary information concerning authorship is indicative of the tardy -progress made by Yorick in these years in gaining recognition in -Germany. The reviewer thinks it even necessary to add that Yorick is the -name of the clergyman who plays a waggish (possierliche) rôle in Shandy, -and that Sterne cherished the opinion that this designation on the -title-page would be better known than his own name. - -In the meantime Swiss piety and Swiss devotion to things English had -been instrumental in bringing out a translation of Sterne’s sermons,[18] -the first volume of which appeared in 1766. The Swiss translation was -occasioned by its author’s expectation of interest in the sermons as -sermons; this is in striking contrast to the motives which led to their -original publication in England. The brief preface of the translator -gives no information of Sterne, or of Shandy; the translator states his -reasons for the rendering, his own interest in the discourses, his -belief that such sermons would not be superfluous in Germany, and his -opinion that they were written for an increasing class of readers, “who, -though possessed of taste and culture and laying claim to probity, yet -for various reasons stand apart from moral instruction and religious -observance.” He also changed the original order of the sermons. The -first part of this Swiss translation is reviewed in the _Allgemeine -deutsche Bibliothek_ in the first number of 1768, and hence before the -Sentimental Journey had seen the light even in London. The review is -characterized by unstinted praise: Sterne is congratulated upon his -deviation from the conventional in homiletical discourse, is commended -as an excellent painter of moral character and situations, though he -abstains from the use of the common engines of eloquence. His narrative -powers are also noted with approval and his ability to retain the -attention of his hearers through clever choice of emphasized detail is -mentioned with appreciation. Yet in all this no reference is made to -Sterne’s position in English letters, a fact which could hardly have -failed of comment, if the reviewer had been aware of it, especially in -view of the relation of Sterne’s popularity to the very existence of -this published volume of sermons, or if it had been expected that the -fact of authorship would awaken interest in any considerable number of -readers. The tone of the review is further hardly reconcilable with a -knowledge of Sterne’s idiosyncrasies as displayed in Shandy. A brief -consideration of the principles of book-reviewing would establish the -fact indisputably that the mentioning of a former book, some hint of -familiarity with the author by open or covert allusion, is an integral -and inevitable part of the review of a later book. This review is the -only mention of Sterne in this magazine[19] before the publication of -the Sentimental Journey. A comparison of this recension, narrow in -outlook, bound, as it is, to the very book under consideration, with -those of the second and third volumes of the sermons in the same -magazine during the year 1770,[20] is an illuminating illustration of -the sweeping change brought in by the Journey. In the latter critique we -find appreciation of Yorick’s characteristics, enthusiastic acceptation -of his sentiment, fond and familiar allusions to both Shandy and the -Sentimental Journey. In the brief space of two years Sterne’s -sentimentalism had come into its own. - -The _Bremisches Magazin_,[21] which was employed largely in publishing -translations from English periodicals, and contained in each number -lists, generally much belated, of new English books, noted in the third -number for 1762, among the new books from April to December, 1760, Mr. -Yorick’s Sermons, published by Mr. Sterne, and then, as customary in -these catalogues, translated the title into “Herrn Yorick’s Predigten -ans Licht gestellt von Hn. Sterne.” Four years later, in the first -volume of the _Neues Bremisches Magazin_,[22] announcement is made of -the third and fourth volumes of Yorick’s Sermons. During this period -sufficient intelligence concerning Sterne is current to warrant the -additional statement that “This Mr. Sterne, the author of the strange -book, Tristram Shandy, is the author himself.” The notice closes with -the naïve but astounding information, “He took the name Yorick because -he is a preacher in York; furthermore, these sermons are much praised.” -No further proof is needed that this reviewer was guiltless of any -knowledge of Shandy beyond the title. The ninth volume of Shandy is -announced in the same number among the new English books. - -In 1767, the year before the publication of the Sentimental Journey, we -find three notices of Tristram Shandy. In the _Deutsche Bibliothek der -schönen Wissenschaften_[23] is a very brief but, in the main, -commendatory review of the Zückert translation, coupled with the -statement that the last parts are not by Sterne, but with the claim that -the humor of the original is fairly well maintained. The review is -signed “Dtsh.” Another Halle periodical, the _Hallische Neue Gelehrte -Zeitungen_, in the issue for August 10, 1767[24] reviews the same -volumes with a much more decided acknowledgment of merit. It is claimed -that the difference is not noticeable, and that the ninth part is almost -more droll than all the others, an opinion which is noteworthy testimony -to its originator’s utter lack of comprehension of the whole work and of -the inanity of this spurious last volume. The statement by both of these -papers that the last three volumes,[25] parts VII, VIII and IX, of the -Zückert translation, rest on spurious English originals, is, of course, -false as far as VII and VIII are concerned, and is true only of IX. - -In the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, the last number for -1766[26] contains the first mention of Sterne’s name in this -representative literary periodical. It is an article entitled “Ueber die -Laune,”[27] which is concerned with the phenomena of hypochrondia and -melancholia, considered as illnesses, and their possible cure. The -author claims to have found a remedy in the books which do not depress -the spirits with exhibition of human woes, but which make merry over -life’s follies. In this he claims merely to be following the advice of -St. Evremond to the Count of Olonne. His method he further explains by -tracing humor to its beginnings in Aristophanes and by following its -development through Latin, new Latin (Erasmus, Thomas Morus, etc.), -French and English writers. Among the latter Sterne is named. -Unfortunately for the present purpose, the author is led by caution and -fear of giving the offense of omission to refrain from naming the German -writers who might be classed with the cited representatives of humor. -In closing, he recommends heartily to those teased with melancholy a -“portion of leaves of Lucian, some half-ounces of ‘Don Quixote’ or some -drachms of ‘Tom Jones’ or ‘Tristram Shandy.’” Under the heading, “New -English Books,” in the third number of the same periodical for 1767, -is a brief but significant notice of the ninth volume of Tristram -Shandy.[28] “The ninth part of the well-known ‘Life of Tristram Shandy’ -has been published; we would not mention it, if we did not desire on -this occasion to note at least once in our magazine a book which is -incontestably the strangest production of wit and humor which has ever -been brought forth. . . . The author of this original book is a -clergyman by the name of Sterne, who, under his Harlequin’s name, -Yorick, has given to the world the most excellent sermons.” The review -contains also a brief word of comparison with Rabelais and a quotation -from an English critic expressing regret at Yorick’s embroidering “the -choicest flowers of genius on a paultry groundwork of buffoonry.”[29] -This late mention of Sterne’s great novel, and the manner in which it is -made are not without their suggestions as to the attitude even of the -German literary world toward Yorick. The notice is written in a tone of -forced condescension. The writer is evidently compelled, as -representative of British literary interests, to bear witness to the -Shandy craze, but the attitude of the review is plainly indicative of -its author’s disbelief in any occasion for especial concern about Yorick -in Germany. Sterne himself is mentioned as a fitful whim of British -taste, and a German devotion to him is beyond the flight of fancy.[30] - -Individual authors, aware of international literary conditions, the -inner circle of German culture, became acquainted with Tristram Shandy -during this period before the publication of the Sentimental Journey and -learned to esteem the eccentric parson. Bode’s possible acquaintance -with the English original previous to 1764 has been already noted. -Lessing’s admiration for Sterne naturally is associated with his two -statements of remarkable devotion to Yorick, both of which, however, -date from a period when he had already become acquainted with the -Journey. At precisely what time Lessing first read Tristram Shandy it is -impossible to determine with accuracy. Moses Mendelssohn writes to him -in the summer of 1763:[31] “Tristram Shandy is a work of masterly -originality. At present, to be sure, I have read only the first two -volumes. In the beginning the book vexed me exceedingly. I rambled on -from digression to digression without grasping the real humor of the -author. I regarded him as a man like our Liscow, whom, as you know, -I don’t particularly fancy; and yet the book pleases Lessing!” This is -sufficient proof that Mendelssohn first read Shandy early in 1763, but, -though not improbable, it is yet rather hazardous to conclude that -Lessing also had read the book shortly before, and had just recommended -it to his friend. The literary friendship existing between them, and the -general nature of their literary relations and communications, would -rather favor such a hypothesis. The passage is, however, a significant -confession of partial failure on the part of the clever and erudite -Mendelssohn to appreciate Sterne’s humor. It has been generally accepted -that Lessing’s dramatic fragment, “Die Witzlinge,” included two -characters modeled confessedly after Yorick’s familiar personages, Trim -and Eugenius. Boxberger and others have stamped such a theory with their -authority.[32] If this were true, “Die Witzlinge” would undoubtedly be -the first example of Sterne’s influence working directly upon the -literary activity of a German author. The fragment has, however, nothing -to do with Tristram Shandy, and a curious error has here crept in -through the remarkable juxtaposition of names later associated with -Sterne. The plan is really derived directly from Shadwell’s “Bury Fair” -with its “Mr. Trim” fancifully styled “Eugenius.” Those who tried to -establish the connection could hardly have been familiar with Tristram -Shandy, for Lessing’s Trim as outlined in the sketch has nothing in -common with the Corporal. - -Erich Schmidt, building on a suggestion of Lichtenstein, found a “Dosis -Yorikscher Empfindsamkeit”[33] in Tellheim, and connected the episode of -the Chevalier de St. Louis with the passage in “Minna von Barnhelm” -(II, 2) in which Minna contends with the innkeeper that the king cannot -know all deserving men nor reward them. Such an identity of sentiment -must be a pure coincidence for “Minna von Barnhelm” was published at -Easter, 1767, nearly a year before the Sentimental Journey appeared. - -A connection between Corporal Trim and Just has been suggested,[34] but -no one has by investigation established such a kinship. Both servants -are patterns of old-fashioned fidelity, types of unquestioning service -on the part of the inferior, a relation which existed between Orlando -and Adam in “As You Like It,” and which the former describes: - - “O good old man, how well in thee appears - The constant service of the antique world, - When service sweat for duty, not for meed; - Thou art not for the fashion of these times.” - -Tellheim recognizes the value of Just’s service, and honors his -subordinate for his unusual faithfulness; yet there exists here no such -cordial comradeship as marked the relation between Sterne’s originals. -But one may discern the occasion of this in the character of Tellheim, -who has no resemblance to Uncle Toby, rather than in any dissimilarity -between the characters of the servants. The use of the relation between -master and man as a subject for literary treatment was probably first -brought into fashion by Don Quixote, and it is well-nigh certain that -Sterne took his cue from Cervantes. - -According to Erich Schmidt, the episode of Just’s dog, as the servant -relates it in the 8th scene of the 1st act, could have adorned the -Sentimental Journey, but the similarity of motif here in the treatment -of animal fidelity is pure coincidence. Certainly the method of using -the episode is not reminiscent of any similar scene in Sterne. Just’s -dog is not introduced for its own sake, nor like the ass at Nampont to -afford opportunity for exciting humanitarian impulses, and for throwing -human character into relief by confronting it with sentimental -possibilities, but for the sake of a forceful, telling and immediate -comparison. Lessing was too original a mind, and at the time when -“Minna” was written, too complete and mature an artist to follow another -slavishly or obviously, except avowedly under certain conditions and -with particular purpose. He himself is said to have remarked, “That must -be a pitiful author who does not borrow something once in a while,”[35] -and it does not seem improbable that the figure of Trim was hovering in -his memory while he was creating his Just. Especially does this seem -plausible when we remember that Lessing wrote his drama during the years -when Shandy was appearing, when he must have been occupied with it, and -at the first flush of his admiration. - -This supposition, however undemonstrable, is given some support by our -knowledge of a minor work of Lessing, which has been lost. On December -28, 1769, Lessing writes to Ebert from Hamburg: “Alberti is well; and -what pleases me about him, as much as his health, is that the news of -his reconciliation with Goeze was a false report. So Yorick will -probably preach and send his sermon soon.”[36] And Ebert replies in a -letter dated at Braunschweig, January 7, 1770, expressing a desire that -Lessing should fulfil his promise, and cause Yorick to preach not once -but many times.[37] The circumstance herein involved was first explained -by Friedrich Nicolai in an article in the _Berlinische Monatsschrift_, -1791.[38] As a trick upon his friend Alberti, who was then in -controversy with Goeze, Lessing wrote a sermon in Yorick’s manner; the -title and part of the introduction to it were privately printed by Bode -and passed about among the circle of friends, as if the whole were in -press. We are entirely dependent on Nicolai’s memory for our information -relative to this sole endeavor on Lessing’s part to adopt completely the -manner of Sterne. Nicolai asserts that this effort was a complete -success in the realization of Yorick’s simplicity, his good-natured but -acute philosophy, his kindly sympathy and tolerance, even his merry -whimsicality. - -This introduction, which Nicolai claims to have recalled essentially as -Lessing wrote it, relates the occasion of Yorick’s writing the sermon. -Uncle Toby and Trim meet a in a ragged French uniform; Capt. -Shandy gives the unfortunate man several shillings, and Trim draws out a -penny and in giving it says, “French Dog!” The narrative continues: - -“The Captain[39] was silent for some seconds and then said, turning to -Trim, ‘It is a man, Trim, and not a dog!’ The French veteran had hobbled -after them: at the Captain’s words Trim gave him another penny, saying -again ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, the man is a soldier.’ Trim stared him -in the face, gave him a penny again and said, ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, -he is a brave soldier; you see he has fought for his fatherland and has -been sorely wounded.’ Trim pressed his hand, while he gave him another -penny, and said ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, this soldier is a good but -unfortunate husband, and has a wife and four little children.’ Trim, -with a tear in his eye, gave all he had left and said, rather softly, -‘French Dog!’” - -This scene recalls vividly the encounter between Just and the landlord -in the first act of “Minna,” the passage in which Just continues to -assert that the landlord is a “Grobian.” There are the same tactics, the -same persistence, the same contrasts. The passage quoted was, of course, -written after “Minna,” but from it we gather evidence that Corporal Trim -and his own Just were similar creations, that to him Corporal Trim, when -he had occasion to picture him, must needs hark back to the figure of -Just, a character which may well originally have been suggested by Capt. -Shandy’s faithful servant. - -Among German literati, Herder is another representative of acquaintance -with Sterne and appreciation of his masterpiece. Haym[40] implies that -Sterne and Swift are mentioned more often than any other foreign authors -in Herder’s writings of the Riga period (November, 1764, to May, 1769). -This would, of course, include the first fervor of enthusiasm concerning -the Sentimental Journey, and would be a statement decidedly doubtful, -if applied exclusively to the previous years. In a note-book, possibly -reaching back before his arrival in Riga to his student days in -Königsberg, Herder made quotations from Shandy and Don Quixote, possibly -preparatory notes for his study of the ridiculous in the Fourth -Wäldchen.[41] In May, 1766, Herder went to Mitau to visit Hamann, and he -designates the account of the events since leaving there as “ein Capitel -meines Shandyschen Romans”[42] and sends it as such to “my uncle, Tobias -Shandy.” Later a letter, written 27-16, August, 1766, is begun with the -heading, “Herder to Hamann and no more Yorick to Tobias Shandy,” in -which he says: “I am now in a condition where I can play the part of -Yorick as little as Panza that of Governor.”[43] The same letter -contains another reference and the following familiar allusion to -Sterne: “Grüsen Sie Trim, wenn ich gegen keinen den beleidigenden -Karakter Yoriks oder leider! das Schicksal wider Willen zu beleidigen, -habe, so ist’s doch gegen ihn und Hartknoch.” These last quotations are -significant as giving proof that Shandy had so far forced its claims -upon a little set of book-lovers in the remote east, Herder, Hamann and -a few others, that they gave one another in play names from the English -novel. A letter from Hamann to Herder, dated Königsberg, June 10, 1767, -indicates that the former shared also the devotion to Sterne.[44] - -In the first collection of “Fragmente über die neuere deutsche -Litteratur,” 1767, the sixth section treats of the “Idiotismen” of a -language. British “Laune” is cited as such an untranslatable “Idiotism” -and the lack of German humorists is noted, and Swift is noted -particularly as an English example. In the second and revised edition -Herder adds material containing allusion to Hudibras and Tristram.[45] -The first and second “Kritische Wäldchen” contain several references to -Sterne and Shandy.[46] Herder, curiously enough, did not read the -Sentimental Journey until the autumn of 1768, as is disclosed in a -letter to Hamann written in November,[47] which also shows his -appreciation of Sterne. “An Sterne’s Laune,” he says, “kann ich mich -nicht satt lesen. Eben den Augenblick, da ich an ihn denke, bekomme ich -seine Sentimental Journey zum Durchlesen, und wenn nicht meine Englische -Sprachwissenschaft scheitert, wie angenehm werde ich mit ihm reisen. -Ich bin an seine Sentiments zum Theil schon so gewöhnt, sie bis in das -weiche innere Mark seiner Menschheit in ihren zarten Fäden zu verfolgen: -dass ich glaube seinen Tristram etwas mehr zu verstehn als the common -people. Nur um so mehr ärgern mich auch seine verfluchten Säuereien und -Zweideutigkeiten, die das Buch wenigerer Empfehlung fähig machen als es -verdient.” We learn from the same letter that Herder possessed the -sermons of Yorick in the Zürich translation. Herder’s own homiletical -style during this period, as evinced by the sermons preserved to us, -betrays no trace of Sterne’s influence. - -Riedel, in his “Theorie der schönen Künste und Wissenschaften,”[48] -shows appreciation of Shandy complete and discriminating, previous to -the publication of the Sentimental Journey. This book is a sort of -compendium, a series of rather disconnected chapters, woven together out -of quotations from aesthetic critics, examples and comment. In the -chapter on Similarity and Contrast he contends that a satirist only may -transgress the rule he has just enunciated: “When a perfect similarity -fails of its effect, a too far-fetched, a too ingenious one, is even -less effective,” and in this connection he quotes from Tristram Shandy a -passage describing the accident to Dr. Slop and Obadiah.[49] Riedel -translates the passage himself. The chapter “Ueber die Laune”[50] -contains two more references to Shandy. In a volume dated 1768 and -entitled “Ueber das Publikum: Briefe an einige Glieder desselben,” -written evidently without knowledge of the Journey, Riedel indicates the -position which Shandy had in these years won for itself among a select -class. Riedel calls it a contribution to the “Register” of the human -heart and states that he knows people who claim to have learned more -psychology from this novel than from many thick volumes in which the -authors had first killed sentiment in order then to dissect it at -leisure.[51] - -Early in 1763, one finds an appreciative knowledge of Shandy as a -possession of a group of Swiss literati, but probably confined to a -coterie of intellectual aristocrats and novelty-seekers. Julie von -Bondeli[52] writes to Usteri from Koenitz on March 10, 1763, that -Kirchberger[53] will be able to get him the opportunity to read Tristram -Shandy as a whole, that she herself has read two volumes with surprise, -emotion and almost constant bursts of laughter; she goes on to say: -“Il voudrait la peine d’apprendre l’anglais ne fut-ce que pour lire cet -impayable livre, dont la vérité et le génie se fait sentir à chaque -ligne au travers de la plus originelle plaisanterie.” Zimmermann was a -resident of Brugg, 1754-1768, and was an intimate friend of Fräulein von -Bondeli. It may be that this later enthusiastic admirer of Sterne became -acquainted with Shandy at this time through Fräulein von Bondeli, but -their correspondence, covering the years 1761-1775, does not -disclose it. - -Dr. Carl Behmer, who has devoted an entire monograph to the study of -Wieland’s connection with Sterne, is of the opinion, and his proofs seem -conclusive, that Wieland did not know Shandy before the autumn of -1767,[54] that is, only a few months before the publication of the -Journey. But his enthusiasm was immediate. The first evidence of -acquaintance with Sterne, a letter to Zimmermann (November 13, -1767),[55] is full of extravagant terms of admiration and devotion. -One is naturally reminded of his similar extravagant expressions with -reference to the undying worth of Richardson’s novels. Sterne’s life -philosophy fitted in with Wieland’s second literary period, the -frivolous, sensuous, epicurean, even as the moral meanderings of -Richardson agreed with his former serious, religious attitude. Probably -soon after or while reading Shandy, Wieland conceived the idea of -translating it. The letter which contains this very first mention of -Sterne also records Wieland’s regret that the Germans can read this -incomparable original only in so wretched a translation, which implies a -contemporary acquaintance with Dr. Zückert’s rendering. This regret may -well have been the foundation of his own purpose of translating the -book; and knowledge of this seems to have been pretty general among -German men of letters at the time. Though the account of this purpose -would bring us into a time when the Sentimental Journey was in every -hand, it may be as well to complete what we have to say of it here. - -His reason for abandoning the idea, and the amount of work done, the -length of time he spent upon the project, cannot be determined from his -correspondence and must, as Behmer implies, be left in doubt. But -several facts, which Behmer does not note, remarks of his own and of his -contemporaries, point to more than an undefined general purpose on his -part; it is not improbable that considerable work was done. Wieland says -incidentally in his _Teutscher Merkur_,[56] in a review of the new -edition of Zückert’s translation: “Vor drei Jahren, da er (Lange) mich -bat, ihm die Uebersetzung des Tristram mit der ich damals umgieng, in -Verlag zu geben.” Herder asks Nicolai in a letter dated Paris, November -30, 1769, “What is Wieland doing, is he far along with his Shandy?” And -in August, 1769, in a letter to Hartknoch, he mentions Wieland’s -Tristram among German books which he longs to read.[57] - -The _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_[58] for December 18, -1769, in mentioning this new edition of Zückert’s translation, states -that Wieland has now given up his intention, but adds: “Perhaps he will, -however, write essays which may fill the place of a philosophical -commentary upon the whole book.” That Wieland had any such secondary -purpose is not elsewhere stated, but it does not seem as if the journal -would have published such a rumor without some foundation in fact. -It may be possibly a resurrection of his former idea of a defense of -Tristram as a part of the “Litteraturbriefe” scheme which Riedel had -proposed.[59] This general project having failed, Wieland may have -cherished the purpose of defending Tristram independently of the plan. -Or this may be a reviewer’s vague memory of a former rumor of plan. - -It is worth noting incidentally that Gellert does not seem to have known -Sterne at all. His letters, for example, to Demoiselle Lucius, which -begin October 22, 1760, and continue to December 4, 1769, contain -frequent references to other English celebrities, but none to Sterne. - -The first notice of Sterne’s death is probably that in the -_Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ of Hamburg in the issue of April 6, 1768, -not three weeks after the event itself. The brief announcement is a -comparison with Cervantes. The _Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_ -chronicles the death of Yorick, August 29, 1768.[60] - -Though published in England from 1759-67, Tristram Shandy seems not to -have been reprinted in Germany till the 1772 edition of Richter in -Altenburg, a year later indeed than Richter’s reprint of the Sentimental -Journey. The colorless and inaccurate Zückert translation, as has -already been suggested, achieved no real popular success and won no -learned recognition. The reviews were largely silent or indifferent to -it, and, apart from the comparatively few notices already cited, it was -not mentioned by any important literary periodical until after its -republication by Lange, when the Sentimental Journey had set all tongues -awag with reference to the late lamented Yorick. None of the journals -indicate any appreciation of Sterne’s especial claim to recognition, -nor see in the fatherland any peculiar receptiveness to his appeal. In -short, the foregoing accumulation of particulars resolves itself into -the general statement, easily derived from the facts stated: Sterne’s -position in the German world of letters is due primarily to the -Sentimental Journey. Without its added impulse Shandy would have hardly -stirred the surface of German life and thought. The enthusiasm even of a -few scholars whose learning and appreciation of literature is -international, the occasional message of uncertain understanding, of -doubtful approbation, or of rumored popularity in another land, are not -sufficient to secure a general interest and attentiveness, much less a -literary following. The striking contrast between the essential -characteristics of the two books is a sufficient and wholly reasonable -occasion for Germany’s temporary indifference to the one and her -immediate welcome for the other. Shandy is whimsicality touched with -sentiment. The Sentimental Journey is the record of a sentimental -experience, guided by the caprice of a whimsical will. Whimsicality is a -flower that defies transplanting; when once rooted in other soil it -shoots up into obscurity, masquerading as profundity, or pure silliness -without reason or a smile. The whimsies of one language become amazing -contortions in another. The humor of Shandy, though deep-dyed in -Sterne’s own eccentricity, is still essentially British and demands for -its appreciation a more extensive knowledge of British life in its -narrowest, most individual phases, a more intensive sympathy with -British attitudes of mind than the German of the eighteenth century, -save in rare instances, possessed. Bode asserts in the preface to his -translation of the Sentimental Journey that Shandy had been read by a -good many Germans, but follows this remark with the query, “How many -have understood it?” “One finds people,” he says, “who despise it as the -most nonsensical twaddle, and cannot comprehend how others, whom they -must credit with a good deal of understanding, wit, and learning, think -quite otherwise of it,” and he closes by noting the necessity that one -be acquainted with the follies of the world, and especially of the -British world, to appreciate the novel. He refers unquestionably to his -own circle of literati in Hamburg, who knew Tristram and cared for it, -and to others of his acquaintance less favored with a knowledge of -things English. The Sentimental Journey presented no inscrutable mystery -of purposeful eccentricity and perplexing personality, but was written -large in great human characters which he who ran might read. And Germany -was ready to give it a welcome.[61] - - - [Footnote 1: A reviewer in the _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, as early - as 1774, asserts that Sterne had inspired more droll and - sentimental imitations in Germany than even in England. (Apr. 5, - 1774.)] - - [Footnote 2: See Bibliography for list of books giving more or - less extended accounts of Sterne’s influence.] - - [Footnote 3: Sterne did, to be sure, assert in a letter (Letters, - I, p. 34) that he wrote “not to be fed but to be famous.” Yet this - was after this desire had been fulfilled, and, as the expression - agrees with the tone and purpose of the letter in which it is - found, it does not seem necessary to place too much weight upon - it. It is very probable in view of evidence collected later that - Sterne _began_ at least to write Tristram as a pastime in domestic - misfortune. The thirst for fame may have developed in the progress - of the composition.] - - [Footnote 4: Fitzgerald says “end of December,” Vol. I, p. 116, - and the volumes were reviewed in the December number of the - _Monthly Review_, 1759 (Vol. XXI, pp. 561-571), though without any - mention of the author’s name. This review mentions no other - publisher than Cooper.] - - [Footnote 5: Quoted by Fitzgerald, Vol. I, p. 126.] - - [Footnote 6: The full title of this paper was _Staats- und - gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyischen - Correspondenten_.] - - [Footnote 7: Meusel: Lexicon der vom Jahr 1750 bis 1800 - verstorbenen teutschen Schriftsteller. Bd. XV. (Leipzig bey - Fleischer) 1816, pp, 472-474.] - - [Footnote 8: Berlin, bei August Mylius. 1764.] - - [Footnote 9: Behmer (L. Sterne und C. M. Wieland, p. 15) seems to - be unaware of the translations of the following parts, and of the - authorship.] - - [Footnote 10: This attempt to supply a ninth volume of Tristram - Shandy seems to have been overlooked. A spurious third volume is - mentioned in the Natl. Dict. of Biography and is attributed to - John Carr. This ninth volume is however noticed in the _London - Magazine_, 1766, p. 691, with accompanying statement that it is - “not by the author of the eight volumes.” The genuine ninth volume - is mentioned and quoted in this magazine in later issues, 1767, - p. 78, 206.] - - [Footnote 11: This edition is reviewed also in _Almanach der - deutschen Musen_, 1774, p. 97.] - - [Footnote 12: “Kein Deutscher, welcher das Uebersetzen aus fremden - Sprachen als ein Handwerk ansieht.”] - - [Footnote 13: I, p. 111.] - - [Footnote 14: “Lexicon der Hamburgischen Schriftsteller,” Hamburg, - 1851-1883.] - - [Footnote 15: Tristram Shandy, I, p. 107, and Zückert’s - translation, I, p. 141.] - - [Footnote 16: In this review and in the announcement of Sterne’s - death, this periodical refers to him as the Dean of York, - a distinction which Sterne never enjoyed.] - - [Footnote 17: 1767, p. 691. The reference is given in the Register - to 1753-1782 erroneously as p. 791.] - - [Footnote 18: “Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick.” Zürich, - bey Fuesslin & Comp, 1766-69. 3 vols.] - - [Footnote 19: The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ was founded in - 1765.] - - [Footnote 20: XII, 1, pp. 210-211 and 2, p. 202.] - - [Footnote 21: For full title see Bibliography.] - - [Footnote 22: Vol. I, p. 460.] - - [Footnote 23: Edited by Klotz and founded in 1767, published at - Halle by J. J. Gebauer. Vol. I, Part 2, p. 183.] - - [Footnote 24: Vol. II, p. 500.] - - [Footnote 25: The former says merely “the last parts”, the latter - designates “the last three.”] - - [Footnote 26: III, 1, pp. 1 ff.] - - [Footnote 27: This article is not to be confused with Garve’s - well-known article published in the same magazine, LXI, pp. 51-77 - (1798).] - - [Footnote 28: IV, St. 2, pp. 376-7.] - - [Footnote 29: This is from the February number, 1767, of the - _Monthly Review_. (Vol. XXXVI, p. 102.)] - - [Footnote 30: The seventh and eighth volumes of Shandy, English - edition, are reviewed in the first number of a short-lived - Frankfurt periodical, _Neue Auszüge aus den besten ausländischen - Wochen und Monatsschriften_, 1765. _Unterhaltungen_, a magazine - published at Hamburg and dealing largely with English interests, - notes the London publication of the spurious ninth volume of - Shandy (Vol. II, p. 152, August, 1766). _Die Brittische - Bibliothek_, another magazine consisting principally of English - reprints and literary news, makes no mention of Sterne up to 1767. - Then in a catalogue of English books sold by Casper Fritsch in - Leipzig, Shandy is given, but without the name of the author. - There is an account of Sterne’s sermons in the _Neue Hamburgische - Zeitung_, April, 1768.] - - [Footnote 31: Mendelssohn’s Schriften, edited by Prof. Dr. G. B. - Mendelssohn. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1844. Vol. V, p. 171.] - - [Footnote 32: Kürschner edition of Lessing’s works, III, 2, pp. - 156-157. See also “Lessing und die Engländer” by Josef Caro in - _Euphorion_, VI, pp. 489 ff. Erich Schmidt made the statement in - his life of Lessing in the edition of 1884, but corrected it - later, in the edition of 1899, probably depending on parallel - passages drawn from Paul Albrecht’s “Lessing’s Plagiate” (Hamburg - and Leipzig, 1888-1891), an extraordinary work which by its - frequent absurdity and its viciousness of attack forfeits credence - in its occasional genuine discoveries.] - - [Footnote 33: Lessing. “Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner - Schriften.” Berlin, 1884, I, pp. 174, 465. This is omitted in the - latest edition.] - - [Footnote 34: Perry (Thomas Sargeant) “From Opitz to Lessing.” - Boston, 1885, p. 162.] - - [Footnote 35: Quoted by Lichtenberg in “Göttingischer - Taschenkalender,” 1796, p. 191. “Vermischte Schriften,” VI, - p. 487.] - - [Footnote 36: Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840. Vol. XII, p. 240.] - - [Footnote 37: XIII, pp. 209-10.] - - [Footnote 38: XVII, pp. 30-45. The article is reprinted in the - Hempel edition of Lessing, XVII, pp. 263-71.] - - [Footnote 39: Nicolai uses the German word for colonel, a title - which Uncle Toby never bore.] - - [Footnote 40: R. Haym. “Herder nach seinem Leben und seinen - Werken.” I, p. 413.] - - [Footnote 41: Haym, I, p. 261.] - - [Footnote 42: Herder’s “Briefe an Joh. Georg Hamann,” ed. by Otto - Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, p. 25, or “Lebensbild” II, p. 140.] - - [Footnote 43: “Briefe an Hamann,” p. 27.] - - [Footnote 44: Lebensbild II (I, 2), p. 256; also in Hamann’s - Schriften, ed. by Roth. Berlin, 1822, III, p. 372. Hamann asks - Herder to remind his publisher, when the latter sends the promised - third part of the “Fragmente,” to inclose without fail the - engraving of Sterne, because the latter is absolutely essential to - his furnishings.] - - [Footnote 45: See Suphan I, p. 163; II, p. 46.] - - [Footnote 46: Suphan III, pp. 170, 223, 233, 277, 307.] - - [Footnote 47: Briefe an Hamann, p. 49.] - - [Footnote 48: . . . . in Auszug aus den Werken verschiedener - Schriftsteller von Friedrich Just Riedel, Jena, 1767. The chapter - cited is pp. 137 ff.] - - [Footnote 49: I, p. 106.] - - [Footnote 50: Pp. 91-96; see also p. 331.] - - [Footnote 51: Pp. 118-120, or Sämmtliche Schriften, Wien, 1787, - 4ter Th., 4ter Bd., p. 133. A review with quotation of this - criticism of Shandy is found in the _Deutsche Bibliothek der - schönen Wissenschaften_, II, p. 659, but after the publication of - the Mittelstedt translation of the Sentimental Journey had been - reviewed in the same periodical.] - - [Footnote 52: See “Julie von Bondeli und ihr Freundeskreis,” von - Eduard Bodemann. Hannover, 1874.] - - [Footnote 53: Nicholas Ant. Kirchberger, the Swiss statesman and - philosopher, the friend of Rousseau.] - - [Footnote 54: Behmer, “Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland,” pp. - 15-17.] - - [Footnote 55: “Ausgewählte Briefe,” Bd. II, p. 285 f. Zürich, - 1815.] - - [Footnote 56: V, pp. 345-6. 1774.] - - [Footnote 57: See Lebensbild, V, p. 107 and p. 40.] - - [Footnote 58: 1769, p. 840.] - - [Footnote 59: See Behmer, p. 24, and the letter to Riedel, October - 26, 1768, Ludwig Wielands Briefsammlung. I, p. 232.] - - [Footnote 60: P. 856.] - - [Footnote 61: These two aspects of the Sterne cult in Germany will - be more fully treated later. The historians of literature and - other investigators who have treated Sterne’s influence in Germany - have not distinguished very carefully the difference between - Sterne’s two works, and the resulting difference between the kind - and amount of their respective influences. Appell, however, - interprets the condition correctly and assigns the cause with - accuracy and pointedness. (“Werther und seine Zeit.” p. 246). The - German critics repeat persistently the thought that the imitators - of Sterne remained as far away from the originals as the - Shakespeare followers from the great Elizabethan. See Gervinus, - Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, I, 184; Hettner, “Geschichte - der deutschen Literatur im 18. Jahrhundert,” III, 1, p. 362; - Hofer, “Deutsche Litteraturgeschichte,” p. 150.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY - - -On February 27, 1768, the Sentimental Journey was published in -London,[1] less than three weeks before the author’s death, and the book -was at once transplanted to German soil, beginning there immediately its -career of commanding influence and wide-spread popularity. - -Several causes operated together in favoring its pronounced and -immediate success. A knowledge of Sterne existed among the more -intelligent lovers of English literature in Germany, the leaders of -thought, whose voice compelled attention for the understandable, but was -powerless to create appreciation for the unintelligible among the lower -ranks of readers. This knowledge and appreciation of Yorick were -immediately available for the furtherance of Sterne’s fame as soon as a -work of popular appeal was published. The then prevailing interest in -travels is, further, not to be overlooked as a forceful factor in -securing immediate recognition for the Sentimental Journey.[2] At no -time in the world’s history has the popular interest in books of travel, -containing geographical and topographical description, and information -concerning peoples and customs, been greater than during this period. -The presses teemed with stories of wanderers in known and unknown lands. -The preface to the _Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_ of Leipzig for -the year 1759 heralds as a matter of importance a gain in geographical -description. The _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, 1773, makes -in its tables of contents, a separate division of travels. In 1759, -also, the “Allgemeine Historie der Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande” -(Leipzig, 1747-1774), reached its seventeenth volume. These are brief -indications among numerous similar instances of the then predominant -interest in the wanderer’s experience. Sterne’s second work of fiction, -though differing in its nature so materially from other books of travel, -may well, even if only from the allurement of its title, have shared the -general enthusiasm for the traveler’s narrative. Most important, -however, is the direct appeal of the book itself, irresistible to the -German mind and heart. Germany had been for a decade hesitating on the -verge of tears, and grasped with eagerness a book which seemed to give -her British sanction for indulgence in her lachrymose desire. - -The portion of Shandy which is virtually a part of the Sentimental -Journey,[3] which Sterne, possibly to satisfy the demands of the -publisher, thrust in to fill out volumes contracted for, was not long -enough, nor distinctive enough in its use of sentiment, was too -effectually concealed in its volume of Shandean quibbles, to win readers -for the whole of Shandy, or to direct wavering attention through the -mazes of Shandyism up to the point where the sentimental Yorick really -takes up the pen and introduces the reader to the sad fate of Maria of -Moulines. One can imagine eager Germany aroused to sentimental frenzy -over the Maria incident in the Sentimental Journey, turning with -throbbing contrition to the forgotten, neglected, or unknown passage in -Tristram Shandy.[4] - -It is difficult to trace sources for Sterne in English letters, that is, -for the strange combination of whimsicality, genuine sentiment and -knavish smiles, which is the real Sterne. He is individual, exotic, not -demonstrable from preceding literary conditions, and his meteoric, or -rather rocket-like career in Britain is in its decline a proof of the -insensibility of the English people to a large portion of his gospel. -The creature of fancy which, by a process of elimination, the Germans -made out of Yorick is more easily explicable from existing and preceding -literary and emotional conditions in Germany.[5] Brockes had prepared -the way for a sentimental view of nature, Klopstock’s poetry had -fostered the display of emotion, the analysis of human feeling. Gellert -had spread his own sort of religious and ethical sentimentalism among -the multitudes of his devotees. Stirred by, and contemporaneous with -Gallic feeling, Germany was turning with longing toward the natural man, -that is, man unhampered by convention and free to follow the dictates of -the primal emotions. The exercise of human sympathy was a goal of this -movement. In this vague, uncertain awakening, this dangerous freeing of -human feelings, Yorick’s practical illustration of the sentimental life -could not but prove an incentive, an organizer, a relief for pent-up -emotion.[6] - -Johann Joachim Christoph Bode has already been mentioned in relation to -the early review of Zückert’s translation of Shandy. His connection with -the rapid growth of the Yorick cult after the publication of the -Sentimental Journey demands a more extended account of this German -apostle of Yorick. In the sixth volume of Bode’s translation of -Montaigne[7] was printed first the life of the translator by C. A. -Böttiger. This was published the following year by the same house in a -separate volume entitled “J. J. C. Bodes literarisches Leben, nebst -dessen Bildnis von Lips.” All other sources of information regarding -Bode, such as the accounts in Jördens and in Schlichtegroll’s -“Nekrolog,”[8] are derivations or abstracts from this biography. Bode -was born in Braunschweig in 1730; reared in lowly circumstances and -suffering various vicissitudes of fortune, he came to Hamburg in 1756-7. -Gifted with a talent for languages, which he had cultivated assiduously, -he was regarded at the time of his arrival, even in Hamburg, as one -especially conversant with the English language and literature. His -nature must have borne something akin to Yorick, for his biographer -describes his position in Hamburg society as not dissimilar to that once -occupied for a brief space in the London world by the clever fêted -Sterne. Yet the enthusiasm of the friend as biographer doubtless colors -the case, forcing a parallel with Yorick by sheer necessity. Before 1768 -Bode had published several translations from the English with rather -dubious success, and the adaptability of the Sentimental Journey to -German uses must have occurred to him, or have been suggested to him -directly upon its very importation into Germany. He undoubtedly set -himself to the task of translation as soon as the book reached -his hands, for, in the issue of the _Hamburgische -Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ for April 20, is found Bode’s translation -of a section from the Sentimental Journey. “Die Bettler” he names the -extract; it is really the fifth of the sections which Sterne labels -“Montriul.”[9] In the numbers of the same paper for June 11 and 15, Bode -translates in two parts the story of the “Monk;” thus, in but little -over three months after its English publication, the story of the poor -Franciscan Lorenzo and his fateful snuff-box was transferred to Germany -and began its heart-touching career. These excerpts were included by -Bode later in the year when he published his translation of the whole -Sentimental Journey. The first extract was evidently received with favor -and interest, for, in the foreword to the translation of the “Monk,” in -the issue of June 11, Bode assigns this as his reason for making his -readers better acquainted with this worthy book. He further says that -the reader of taste and insight will not fail to distinguish the -difference when so fine a connoisseur of the human heart as Sterne -depicts sentiments, and when a shallow wit prattles of his emotions. -Bode’s last words are a covert assumption of his rôle as prophet and -priest of Yorick in Germany: “The reader may himself judge from the -following passage, whether we have spoken of our Briton in terms of too -high praise.” - -In the July number of the _Unterhaltungen_, another Hamburg periodical, -is printed another translation from the Sentimental Journey entitled: -“Eine Begebenheit aus Yoricks Reise fürs Herz übersetzt.” The episode is -that of the _fille de chambre_[10] who is seeking Crébillon’s “Les -Egarements du Coeur et de l’Esprit.” The translator omits the first part -of the section and introduces us to the story with a few unacknowledged -words of his own. In the September number of the same periodical the -rest of the _fille de chambre_ story[11] is narrated. Here also the -translator alters the beginning of the account to make it less abrupt in -the rendering. The author of this translation has not been determined. -Bode does not translate the word “Sentimental” in his published -extracts, giving merely the English title; hence Lessing’s advice[12] -concerning the rendering of the word dates probably from the latter part -of the summer. The translation in the September number of the -_Unterhaltungen_ also does not contain a rendering of the word. Bode’s -complete translation was issued probably in October,[13] possibly late -in September, 1768, and bore the imprint of the publisher Cramer in -Hamburg and Bremen, but the volumes were printed at Bode’s own press and -were entitled “Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, -aus dem Englischen übersetzt.”[14] - -The translator’s preface occupies twenty pages and is an important -document in the story of Sterne’s popularity in Germany, since it -represents the introductory battle-cry of the Sterne cult, and -illustrates the attitude of cultured Germany toward the new star. Bode -begins his foreword with Lessing’s well-known statement of his devotion -to Sterne. Bode does not name Lessing; calls him “a well-known German -scholar.” The statement referred to was made when Bode brought to his -friend the news of Sterne’s death. It is worth repeating: - -“I would gladly have resigned to him five years of my own life, if such -a thing were possible, though I had known with certainty that I had only -ten, or even eight left. . . . but under the condition that he must keep -on writing, no matter what, life and opinions, or sermons, or journeys.” -On July 5, 1768, Lessing wrote to Nicolai, commenting on Winckelmann’s -death as follows: “He is the second author within a short time, to whom -I would have gladly given some years of my own life.”[15] - -Nearly thirty years later (March 20, 1797) Sara Wulf, whose maiden name -was Meyer and who was later and better known as Frau von Grotthus, wrote -from Dresden to Goethe of the consolation found in “Werther” after a -disappointing youthful love affair, and of Lessing’s conversation with -her then concerning Goethe. She reports Lessing’s words as follows: “You -will feel sometime what a genius Goethe is, I am sure of this. I have -always said I would give ten years of my own life if I had been able to -lengthen Sterne’s by one year, but Goethe consoles me in some measure -for his loss.”[16] - -It would be absurd to attach any importance to this variation of -statement. It does not indicate necessarily an affection for Sterne and -a regret at his loss, mathematically doubled in these seven or eight -years between Sterne’s death and the time of Lessing’s conversation with -Sara Meyer; it probably arises from a failure of memory on the part of -the lady, for Bode’s narrative of the anecdote was printed but a few -months after Sterne’s death, and Lessing made no effort to correct an -inaccuracy of statement, if such were the case, though he lived to see -four editions of Bode’s translation and consequently so many repetitions -of his expressed but impossible desire. Erich Schmidt[17] reduces this -willingness on Lessing’s part to one year,--an unwarranted liberty. - -These two testimonies of Lessing’s devotion are of importance in -defining his attitude toward Yorick. They attest the fact that this was -no passing fancy, no impulsive thought uttered on the moment when the -news of Sterne’s death was brought to him, and when the Sentimental -Journey could have been but a few weeks in his hands, but a deep-seated -desire, born of reflection and continued admiration.[18] The addition of -the word “Reisen” in Bode’s narrative is significant, for it shows that -Lessing must have become acquainted with the Sentimental Journey before -April 6, the date of the notice of Sterne’s death in the _Hamburgische -Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_;[19] that is, almost immediately after its -English publication, unless Bode, in his enthusiasm for the book which -he was offering the public, inserted the word unwarrantably in Lessing’s -statement. - -To return to Bode’s preface. With emphatic protestations, disclaiming -vanity in appealing to the authority of so distinguished a friend, Bode -proceeds to relate more in detail Lessing’s connection with his -endeavor. He does not say that Lessing suggested the translation to him, -though his account has been interpreted to mean that, and this fact has -been generally accepted by the historians of literature and the -biographers of Lessing.[20] The tone of Bode’s preface, however, rather -implies the contrary, and no other proof of the supposition is -available. What Bode does assert is merely that the name of the scholar -whom he quotes as having expressed a willingness to give a part of his -own life if Sterne’s literary activity might be continued, would create -a favorable prepossession for his original (“ein günstiges Vorurtheil”), -and that a translator is often fortunate enough if his selection of a -book to translate is not censured. All this implies, on Lessing’s part, -only an approval of Bode’s choice, a fact which would naturally follow -from the remarkable statement of esteem in the preceding sentence. Bode -says further that out of friendship for him and regard for the reader of -taste, this author (Lessing), had taken the trouble to go through the -whole translation, and then he adds the conventional request in such -circumstances, that the errors remaining may be attributed to the -translator and not to the friend. - -The use of the epithet “empfindsam” for “sentimental” is then the -occasion for some discussion, and its source is one of the facts -involved in Sterne’s German vogue which seem to have fastened themselves -on the memory of literature. Bode had in the first place translated the -English term by “sittlich,” a manifestly insufficient if not flatly -incorrect rendering, but his friend coined the word “empfindsam” for the -occasion and Bode quotes Lessing’s own words on the subject: - -“Bemerken Sie sodann dass sentimental ein neues Wort ist. War es Sternen -erlaubt, sich ein neues Wort zu bilden, so muss es eben darum auch -seinem Uebersetzer erlaubt seyn. Die Engländer hatten gar kein -Adjectivum von Sentiment: wir haben von Empfindung mehr als eines, -empfindlich, empfindbar, empfindungsreich, aber diese sagen alle etwas -anders. Wagen Sie, empfindsam! Wenn eine mühsame Reise eine Reise -heisst, bey der viel Mühe ist: so kann ja auch eine empfindsame Reise -eine Reise heissen, bey der viel Empfindung war. Ich will nicht sagen, -dass Sie die Analogie ganz auf ihrer Seite haben dürften. Aber was die -Leser vors erste bey dem Worte noch nicht denken mögen, sie sich nach -und nach dabey zu denken gewöhnen.”[21] - -The statement that Sterne coined the word “sentimental” is undoubtedly -incorrect,[22] but no one seems to have discovered and corrected the -error till Nicolai’s article on Sterne in the _Berlinische -Monatsschrift_ for February, 1795, in which it is shown that the word -had been used in older English novels, in “Sir Charles Grandison” -indeed.[23] It may well be that, as Böttiger hints,[24] the coining of -the word “empfindsam” was suggested to Lessing by Abbt’s similar -formation of “empfindnisz.”[25] - - [Transcriber’s Note: - The reference is to Böttinger, not to the present text.] - -The preface to this first edition of Bode’s translation of the -Sentimental Journey contains, further, a sketch of Sterne’s life,[26] -his character and his works. Bode relates the familiar story of the dog, -but misses the point entirely in rendering “puppy” by “Geck” in Sterne’s -reply, “So lang er ein Geck ist.” The watchcoat episode is narrated, and -a brief account is given of Sterne’s fortunes in London with Tristram -Shandy and the sermons. Allusion has already been made to the hints -thrown out in this sketch relative to the reading of Sterne in Germany. -A translation from Shandy of the passage descriptive of Parson Yorick -serves as a portrait for Sterne. - -A second edition of Bode’s work was published in 1769. The preface, -which is dated “Anfang des Monats Mai, 1769,” is in the main identical -with the first, but has some significant additions. A word is said -relative to his controversy with a critic, which is mentioned later.[27] -Bode confesses further that the excellence of his work is due to Ebert -and Lessing,[28] though modesty compelled his silence in the previous -preface concerning the source of his aid. Bode admits that even this -disclosure is prompted by the clever guess of a critic in the -_Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_,[29] who openly named -Lessing as the scholar referred to in the first introduction. The -addition and prominence of Ebert’s name is worthy of note, for in spite -of the plural mention[30] in the appendix to the introduction, his first -acknowledgment is to one friend only and there is no suggestion of -another counselor. Ebert’s connection with the Bode translation has been -overlooked in the distribution of influence, while the memorable coining -of the new word, supplemented by Böttiger’s unsubstantiated statements, -has emphasized Lessing’s service in this regard. Ebert is well-known as -an intelligent and appreciative student of English literature, and as a -translator, but his own works betray no trace of imitation or admiration -of Sterne. - -The final words of this new preface promise a translation of the -continuation of the Sentimental Journey; the spurious volumes of -Eugenius are, of course, the ones meant here. This introduction to the -second edition remains unchanged in the subsequent ones. The text of the -second edition was substantially an exact reproduction of the first, -but Bode allowed himself frequent minor changes of word or phrase, an -alteration occurring on an average once in about three pages. Bode’s -changes are in general the result of a polishing or filing process, in -the interest of elegance of discourse, or accuracy of translation. Bode -acknowledges that some of the corrections were those suggested by a -reviewer,[31] but states that other passages criticised were allowed to -stand as they were. He says further that he would have asked those -friends who had helped him on his translation itself to aid him in the -alterations, if distance and other conditions had allowed. The reference -here is naturally to his separation from Ebert, who was in Braunschweig, -but the other “conditions” which could prevent a continuation of -Lessing’s interest in the translation and his assistance in revision are -not evident. Lessing was in Hamburg during this period, and hence his -advice was available. - -Bode’s retranslation of the passage with which Sterne’s work closed -shows increased perception and appreciation for the subtleness of -Sterne’s indecent suggestions, or, perhaps, a growing lack of timidity -or scruple in boldly repeating them. It is probable that the -continuation by Eugenius, which had come into his hands during this -period, had, with its resumption of the point, reminded Bode of the -inadequacy and inexactness of his previous rendering. - -At almost precisely the same time that Bode’s translation appeared, -another German rendering was published, a fact which in itself is -significant for the determination of the relative strength of appeal as -between Sterne’s two works of fiction. The title[32] of this version was -“Versuch über die menschliche Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des -Tristram Shandy, Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, aus dem -Englischen.” It was dated 1769 and was published at the “Fürstliche -Waisenhausbuchhandlung,” in Braunschweig. The preface is signed -Braunschweig, September 7, 1768, and the book was issued in September or -October. The anonymous translator was Pastor Mittelstedt[33] in -Braunschweig (Hirsching und Jördens say Hofprediger), whom the partisan -Böttiger calls the ever-ready manufacturer of translations (der allezeit -fertige Uebersetzungsfabrikant). Behmer tentatively suggests Weis as the -translator of this early rendering, an error into which he is led -evidently by a remark in Bode’s preface in which the apologetic -translator states the rumor that Weis was engaged in translating the -same book, and that he (Bode) would surely have locked up his work in -his desk if the publisher had not thereby been led to suffer loss. -Nothing was ever heard of this third translation. - -This first edition of the Mittelstedt translation contains 248 pages and -is supplied with a preface which is, like Bode’s, concerned in -considerable measure with the perplexing problem of the translation of -Sterne’s title. The English title is given and the word “sentimental” is -declared a new one in England and untranslatable in German. Mittelstedt -proposes “Gefühlvolle Reisen,” “Reisen fürs Herz,” “Philosophische -Reisen,” and then condemns his own suggestions as indeterminate and -forced. He then goes on to say, “So I have chosen the title which Yorick -himself suggests in the first part.”[34] He speaks of the lavish praise -already bestowed on this book by the learned journals, and turns at last -aside to do the obvious: he bemoans Sterne’s death by quoting Hamlet and -closes with an apostrophe to Sterne translated from the April number of -the _Monthly Review_ for 1768.[35] In 1769, the year when the first -edition was dated, the Mittelstedt translation was published under a -slightly altered title, as already mentioned. This second edition of the -Mittelstedt translation in the same year as the first is overlooked by -Jördens and Hirsching,[36] both of whom give a second and hence really a -third edition in 1774. Böttiger notes with partisan zeal that Bode’s -translation was made use of in some of the alterations of this second -edition, and further records the fact that the account of Sterne’s life, -added in this edition, was actually copied from Bode’s preface.[37] - -The publication of the Mittelstedt translation was the occasion of a -brief controversy between the two translators in contemporary journals. -Mittelstedt printed his criticism of Bode’s work in a home paper, the -_Braunschweiger Intelligenzblätter_, and Bode spoke out his defense in -the _Neue Hamburger Zeitung_. That Bode in his second edition adopted -some of the reviewer’s suggestions and criticisms has been noted, but in -the preface to this edition he declines to resume the strife in spite of -general expectation of it, but, as a final shot, he delivers himself of -“an article from his critical creed,” that the “critic is as little -infallible as author or translator,” which seems, at any rate, a rather -pointless and insignificant contribution to the controversy. - -Bode’s translation of the third and fourth volumes of Yorick’s -Journey,[38] that is, the continuation by Eugenius, followed directly -after the announcement in the preface to the second edition of the first -two volumes, as already mentioned. Böttiger states that Bode had this -continuation from Alberti and knew it before anyone else in Germany. It -was published in England in the spring of 1769, and was greeted with a -disapproval which was quite general, and it never enjoyed there any -considerable genuine popularity or recognition. Bode published this -translation of Stevenson’s work without any further word of comment or -explanation whatsoever, a fact which easily paved the way for a -misunderstanding relative to the volumes, for Bode was frequently -regarded as their author and held responsible for their defects. Bode -himself never made any satisfactory or adequate explanation of his -attitude toward these volumes, and the reply to Goeze in the -introduction to his translation of Shandy is the nearest approach to a -discussion of his position. But there Bode is concerned only with the -attack made by the Hamburg pastor upon his character, an inference drawn -from the nature of the book translated, and the character of the -translation; in the absence of a new edition in which “Mine and His -shall be marked off by distinct boundaries,” he asks Goeze only to send -to him, and beg “for original and translation,” naturally for the -purpose of comparison. This evasive reply is Bode’s only defense or -explanation. Böttiger claims that the review of Bode’s translation in -the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ did much to spread the idea of -Bode’s authorship, though the reviewer in that periodical[39] only -suggests the possibility of German authorship, a suspicion aroused by -the substitution of German customs and motif and word-play, together -with contemporary literary allusion, allusion to literary mediocrities -and obscurities, of such a nature as to preclude the possibility of the -book’s being a literal translation from the English. - -The exact amount and the nature of Bode’s divergence from the original, -his alterations and additions, have never been definitely stated by -anyone. The reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ is -manifestly ignorant of the original. Böttiger is indefinite and -partisan, yet his statement of the facts has been generally accepted and -constantly repeated. He admits the German coloring given the translation -by Bode through German allusions and German word-plays: he says that -Bode allowed himself these liberties, feeling that he was no longer -dealing with Sterne, a statement of motive on Bode’s part which the -latter never makes and never hints at. The only absolute additions which -Böttiger mentions as made by Bode to the narrative of Eugenius are the -episode, “Das Hündchen,” and the digression, “Die Moral.” The erroneous -idea herein implied has been caught up and repeated by nearly everyone -who has mentioned Bode’s translation of the work.[40] The less certain -allusion to “Die Moral” has been lost sight of, and “Das Hündchen” alone -has been remembered as representing this activity on Bode’s part. In -fact this episode is only one of many pure creations on Bode’s part and -one of the briefer. In the first pages of these volumes Bode is faithful -to the original, a fact suggesting that examination or comparison of the -original text and Bode’s translation was never carried beyond the first -two-score pages; yet here, it would seem, Bode’s rendering was less -careful, more open to censure for inaccuracy, than in the previous -volumes.[41] - -This method of translation obtains up to page 48, then Bode omits a -half-page of half-innocent, half-revolting suggestion, the story of the -Cordelier, and from the middle of page 49 to page 75, twenty-five pages, -the translator adds material absolutely his own. This fiction, -introducing Yorick’s sentimental attitude toward the snuff-box, resuming -a sentimental episode in Sterne’s work, full of tears and sympathy, -is especially characteristic of Yorick, as the Germans conceived him. -The story is entitled “Das Mündel,”[42] “The Ward,” and is evidently -intended as a masculine companion-piece to the fateful story of Maria of -Moulines, linked to it even in the actual narrative itself. An -unfortunate, half-crazed man goes about in silence, performing little -services in an inn where Yorick finds lodging. The hostess tells his -story. He was once the brilliant son of the village miller, was -well-educated and gifted with scholarly interests and attainments. While -instructing some children at Moulines, he meets a peasant girl, and love -is born between them. An avaricious brother opposes Jacques’s passion -and ultimately confines him in secret, spreading the report in Moulines -of his faithlessness to his love. After a tragedy has released Jacques -from his unnatural bondage, he learns of his loved one’s death and loses -his mental balance through grief. Such an addition to the brief pathos -of Maria’s story, as narrated by Sterne, such a forced explanation of -the circumstances, is peculiarly commonplace and inartistic. Sterne -instinctively closed the episode with sufficient allowance for the -exercise of the imagination. - -Following this addition, the section “Slander” of the original is -omitted. The story of the adventure with the opera-girl is much changed. -The bald indecency of the narrative is somewhat softened by minor -substitutions and omissions. Nearly two pages are inserted here, in -which Yorick discourses on the difference between a sentimental traveler -and an _avanturier_. On pages 122-126, the famous “Hündchen” episode is -narrated, an insertion taking the place of the hopelessly vulgar “Rue -Tireboudin.” According to this narrative, Yorick, after the fire, enters -a home where he finds a boy weeping over a dead dog and refusing to be -comforted with promises of other canine possessions. The critics united -in praising this as being a positive addition to the Yorick adventures, -as conceived and related in Sterne’s finest manner. After the lapse of -more than a century, one can acknowledge the pathos, the humanity of the -incident, but the manner is not that of Sterne. It is a simple, -straight-forward relation of the touching incident, introducing that -element of the sentimental movement which bears in Germany a close -relation to Yorick, and was exploited, perhaps, more than any other -feature of his creed, as then interpreted, _i.e._, the sentimental -regard for the lower animals.[43] But there is lacking here the -inevitable concomitant of Sterne’s relation of a sentimental situation, -the whimsicality of the narrator in his attitude at the time of the -adventure, or reflective whimsicality in the narration. Sterne is always -whimsically quizzical in his conduct toward a sentimental condition, or -toward himself in the analysis of his conduct. - -After the “Vergebene Nachforschung” (Unsuccessful Inquiry), which agrees -with the original, Bode adds two pages covering the touching solicitude -of La Fleur for his master’s safety. This addition is, like the -“Hündchen” episode, just mentioned, of considerable significance, for it -illustrates another aspect of Sterne’s sentimental attitude toward human -relations, which appealed to the Germany of these decades and was -extensively copied; the connection between master and man. Following -this added incident, Bode omits completely three sections of Eugenius’s -original narrative, “The Definition,” “Translation of a Fragment” and -“An Anecdote;” all three are brief and at the same time of baldest, most -revolting indecency. In all, Bode’s direct additions amount in this -first volume to about thirty-three pages out of one hundred and -forty-two. The divergences from the original are in the second volume -(the fourth as numbered from Sterne’s genuine Journey) more marked and -extensive: above fifty pages are entirely Bode’s own, and the individual -alterations in word, phrase, allusion and sentiment are more numerous -and unwarranted. The more significant of Bode’s additions are here -noted. “Die Moral” (pages 32-37) contains a fling at Collier, the author -of a mediocre English translation of Klopstock’s “Messias,” and another -against Kölbele, a contemporary German novelist, whose productions have -long since been forgotten.[44] - -Eugenius’s chapter, “Vendredi-Saint,” Bode sees fit to alter in a rather -extraordinary way, by changing the personnel and giving it quite another -introduction. He inserts here a brief account of Walter Shandy, his -disappointment at Tristram’s calamitous nose and Tristram’s name, and -his resolve to perfect his son’s education; and then he makes the visit -to M’lle Laborde, as narrated by Eugenius, an episode out of Walter -Shandy’s book, which was written for Tristram’s instruction, and, -according to Bode, was delivered for safe-keeping into Yorick’s hands. -Bode changes M’lle Laborde into M’lle Gillet, and Walter Shandy is her -visitor, not Yorick. Bode allows himself some verbal changes and softens -the bald suggestion at the end. Bode’s motive for this startling change -is not clear beyond question. The most plausible theory is that the open -and gross suggestion of immoral relation between Yorick, the clergyman -and moralist, and the Paris maiden, seemed to Bode inconsistent with the -then current acceptation of Yorick’s character; and hence he preferred -by artifice to foist the misdemeanor on to the elder Shandy. - -The second extensive addition of Bode’s in this volume is the section -called “Die Erklärung,” and its continuation in the two following -divisions, a story which unites itself with the “Fragment” in Sterne’s -original narration. Yorick is ill and herbs are brought to him in paper -wrappings which turn out to contain the story of the decayed gentleman, -which, according to Sterne’s relation, the Notary was beginning to -write. It will be remembered that the introduction in Sterne was also -brought by La Fleur as a bit of wrapping paper. This curious -coincidence, this prosaic resumption of the broken narrative, is naïve -at least, but can hardly commend itself to any critic as being other -than commonplace and bathetic. The story itself, as related by the dying -man is a tale of accidental incest told quietly, earnestly, but without -a suggestion of Sterne’s wit or sentiment. - -In the next section, emanating entirely from Bode, “Vom -Gesundheitstrinken,” the author is somewhat more successful in catching -the spirit of Sterne in his buoyancy, and in his whimsical anecdote -telling: it purports to be an essay by the author’s friend, Grubbius. -The last addition made by Bode[45] introduces once more Yorick’s -sentiment relative to man’s treatment of the animal world. Yorick, -walking in the garden of an acquaintance, shoots a sparrow and meets -with reproof from the owner of the garden. Yorick protests prosaically -that it was only a sparrow, yet on being assured that it was also a -living being, he succumbs to vexation and self-reproof at his own -failure to be true to his own higher self. A similar regret, a similar -remorse at sentimental thoughtlessness, is recorded of the real Yorick -in connection with the Franciscan, Lorenzo. But there is present in -Sterne’s story the inevitable element of caprice in thought or action, -the whimsical inconsistency of varying moods, not a mere commonplace -lapse from a sentimental creed. In one case, Yorick errs through whim, -in the other, merely through heedlessness. - -Bode’s attitude toward the continuation of Eugenius and the general -nature of his additions have been suggested by the above account. -A résumé of the omissions and the verbal changes would indicate that -they were made frequently because of the indecency of the original; -the transference of the immorality in the episode of M’lle. Laborde and -Walter Shandy, if the reason above suggested be allowed, is further -proof of Bode’s solicitude for Yorick’s moral reputation. Yet the -retention of the episode “Les Gants d’Amour” in its entirety, and of -parts of the continued story of the Piedmontese, may seem inconsistent -and irreconcilable with any absolute objection on Bode’s part other than -a quantitative one, to this loathesome element of the Eugenius -narrative. - -Albrecht Wittenberg[46] in a letter to Jacobi, dated Hamburg, April 21, -1769, says he reads that Riedel is going to continue “Yorick’s Reisen,” -and comments upon the exceedingly difficult undertaking. Nothing further -is known of this plan of Riedel’s. - - - [Footnote 1: Various German authorities date the Sentimental - Journey erroneously 1767. Jördens, V, p. 753; Koberstein, III, - p. 463; Hirsching, XIII, pp. 291-309.] - - [Footnote 2: The reviewer in the _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ (Anhang - I-XII, vol. II, p. 896) implies a contemporary cognizance of this - aid to its popularity. He notes the interest in accounts of - travels and fears that some readers will be disappointed after - taking up the book. Some French books of travel, notably - Chapelle’s “Voyage en Provence,” 1656, were read with appreciation - by cultivated Germany and had their influence parallel and - auxiliary to Sterne’s.] - - [Footnote 3: In the Seventh Book of Tristram Shandy. III, - pp. 47-110.] - - [Footnote 4: III, pp. 210-213.] - - [Footnote 5: The emotional groundwork in Germany which furthered - the appreciation of the Journey, and the sober sanity of British - common sense which choked its English sweep, are admirably and - typically illustrated in the story of the meeting of Fanny Burney - and Sophie la Roche, as told in the diary of the former (“The - Diary and Letters of Frances Burney, Madame D’Arblay,” Boston, - 1880, I, p. 291), entries for September 11 and 17, 1786. On their - second meeting Mme. D’Arblay writes of the German sentimentalist: - “Madame la Roche then rising and fixing her eyes filled with tears - on my face, while she held both my hands, in the most melting - accents exclaimed, ‘Miss Borni, la plus chère, la plus digne des - Anglaises, dites--moi--m’aimez vous?’” Miss Burney is quite - sensibly frank in her inability to fathom this imbecility. - Ludmilla Assing (“Sophie la Roche,” Berlin, 1859, pp. 273-280) - calls Miss Burney cold and petty.] - - [Footnote 6: So heartily did the Germans receive the Sentimental - Journey that it was felt ere long to be almost a German book. - The author of “Ueber die schönen Geister und Dichter des 18ten - Jahrhunderts vornehmlich unter den Deutschen,” by J. C. Fritsch - (?) (Lemgo, 1771), gives the book among German stories and - narratives (pp. 177-9) along with Hagedorn, Gellert, Wieland and - others. He says of the first parts of the Sentimental Journey, - “zwar . . . . aus dem Englischen übersetzt; kann aber für national - passieren.”] - - [Footnote 7: Michael Montaigne’s “Gedanken und Meinungen über - Allerley Gegenstände. Ins Deutsch übersetzt.” Berlin (Lagarde) - 1793-5. Bode’s life is in Vol. VI, pages III-CXLIV. For a review - of Bode’s Life see _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, LVIII, - p. 93.] - - [Footnote 8: Supplementband für 1790-93, pp. 350-418.] - - [Footnote 9: The references to the _Hamburgische - Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ are as follows: 1768, pages 241, 361 - and 369 respectively.] - - [Footnote 10: Pp. 71-74.] - - [Footnote 11: Pp. 101-104. “The Temptation” and the “Conquest.” - The _Unterhaltungen_ is censured by the _Deutsche Bibliothek der - schönen Wissenschaften_, III, p. 266, for printing a poor - translation from Yorick when two translations had already been - announced. The references to _Unterhaltungen_ are respectively pp. - 12-16, and 209-213.] - - [Footnote 12: See below, p. 42-3.] - - [Footnote 13: It was reviewed in the _Hamburgischer - unpartheyischer Correspondent_, Oct. 29.] - - [Footnote 14: I, pp. XX, 168; II, p. 168.] - - [Footnote 15: Lachmann’s edition, 1840, XII, p. 199.] - - [Footnote 16: See _Goethe-Jahrbuch_, XIV (1893), pp. 51-52.] - - [Footnote 17: “Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Goethe’s Jugendgenosse,” - 2d ed. Jena, Frommann, 1879, p. 104.] - - [Footnote 18: It is not possible to date with absolute certainty - the time of Lessing’s conversation with Sara Meyer, but it was - after the publication of “Werther,” and must have been on one of - his two visits to Berlin after that, that is, in March, 1775, - on his way to Vienna, or in February, 1776, on his return from - Italy.] - - [Footnote 19: Bode must have come to Lessing with the information - before this public announcement, for Lessing could hardly have - failed to learn of it when once published in a prominent Hamburg - periodical.] - - [Footnote 20: Böttiger in his biographical sketch of Bode is the - first to make this statement (p. lxiii), and the spread of the - idea and its general acceptation are directly traceable to his - authority. The _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_ in its - review of Böttiger’s work repeats the statement (LVIII, p. 97), - and it is again repeated by Jördens (I, p. 114, edition of 1806), - by Danzel-Guhrauer with express mention of Böttiger (“Lessing, - sein Leben und seine Werke,” II. Erste Abtheilung, p. 287), and by - Erich Schmidt (“Lessing, Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner - Schriften,” Berlin, 1899, I, p. 674). The editor of the Hempel - edition, VII, p. 553 claims Lessing as responsible for the - translation of the Journey, and also of Shandy. The success of the - “Empfindsame Reise” and the popularity of Sterne are quite enough - to account for the latter translation and there is no evidence of - urging on Lessing’s part. A similar statement is found in Gervinus - (V, p. 194). The _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._ (Apr. 21, 1775), p. 267, - credits Wieland with having urged Bode to translate Shandy. The - _Neue Critische Nachrichten, Greifswald_, IX, p. 279, makes the - same statement. The article, however, in the _Teutscher Merkur_ - (1773, II, pp. 228-30) expresses merely a great satisfaction that - Bode is engaged upon the work, and gives some suggestions to him - about it.] - - [Footnote 21: See Bode’s Introduction, p. iii, iv. Also _Allg. - deutsche Bibl._, Anhang, I-XII, Vol. II, pp. 896-9.] - - [Footnote 22: Strangely enough the first use of this word which - has been found is in one of Sterne’s letters, written in 1740 to - the lady who subsequently became his wife. (Letters, p. 25). But - these letters were not published till 1775, long after the word - was in common use. An obscure Yorkshire clergyman can not be - credited with its invention.] - - [Footnote 23: Böttiger refers to Campe’s work, “Ueber die - Bereicherung und Reinigung der deutschen Sprache,” p. 297 ff., - for an account of the genesis of this word, but adds that Campe is - incorrect in his assertion that Sterne coined the word. Campe does - not make the erroneous statement at all, but Bode himself puts it - in the mouth of Lessing.] - - [Footnote 24: See foot note to page lxiii.] - - [Footnote 25: For particulars concerning this parallel formation - see Mendelssohn’s Schriften, ed. by G. B. Mendelssohn, Leipzig, - 1844. V, pp. 330, 335-7, letters between Abbt, Mendelssohn, - Nicolai.] - - [Footnote 26: The source of Bode’s information is the article by - Dr. Hill, first published in the _Royal Female Magazine_ for - April, 1760, and reprinted in the _London Chronicle_, May 5, 1760 - (pp. 434-435), under the title, “Anecdotes of a fashionable - Author.” Bode’s sketch is an abridged translation of this article. - This article is referred to in Sterne’s letters, I, pp. 38-9, 42.] - - [Footnote 27: See p. 47.] - - [Footnote 28: “Dass ich das Gute, was man an meiner Uebersetzung - findet, grössten Theils denen Herren Ebert und Lessing zu - verdanken habe.”] - - [Footnote 29: _Hamburgischer Unpartheyischer Correspondent_, - October 29, 1768.] - - [Footnote 30: “Verschwieg ich die Namen dieser Männer.”] - - [Footnote 31: See p. 47.] - - [Footnote 32: Jördens gives this title, which is the correct one. - Appell in “Werther und seine Zeit,” (p. 247) calls it “Herrn - Yoricks, Verfasser (sic) des Tristram Shandy Reisen durch - Frankreich und Italien, als ein Versuch über die menschliche - Natur,” which is the title of the second edition published later, - but with the same date. See _Allg. deutsche Bibliothek_, Anhang, - I-XII, Vol. II, pp. 896-9. Kayser and Heinsius both give - “Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, oder Versuch - über die menschliche Natur,” which is evidently a confusion with - the better known Bode translation, an unconscious effort to locate - the book.] - - [Footnote 33: Through some strange confusion, a reviewer in the - _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_ (1769, p. 574) states - that Ebert is the author of this translation; he also asserts that - Bode and Lessing had translated the book; it is reported too that - Bode is to issue a new translation in which he makes use of the - work of Lessing and Ebert, a most curious record of uncertain - rumor.] - - [Footnote 34: See p. 31, “In the Street, Calais.” “If this won’t - turn out something, another will. No matter,--’tis an essay upon - human nature.”] - - [Footnote 35: _Monthly Review_, XXXVIII, p. 319: “Gute Nacht, - bewunderungswürdiger Yorick! Dein Witz, Deine Menschenliebe! Dein - redliches Herz! ein jedes untadelhafte Stück deines Lebens und - deiner Schriften müsse in einem unsterblichen Gedächtnisse - blühen,--und O! mögte der Engel, der jenes aufgezeichnet hat, - über die Unvollkommenheiten von beiden eine Thräne des Mitleidens - fallen lassen und sie auf ewig auslöschen.”] - - [Footnote 36: Jördens, V, p. 753. Hirsching, - Historisch-litterarisches Handbuch, XIII, pp. 291-309 (1809).] - - [Footnote 37: It has not been possible to examine this second - edition, but the information concerning Sterne’s life may quite - possibly have been taken not from Bode’s work but from his sources - as already given.] - - [Footnote 38: “Yoriks empfindsame Reise, aus dem Englischen - übersetzt,” 3ter und 4ter Theil, Hamburg und Bremen, bei Cramer, - 1769.] - - [Footnote 39: See _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ Anhang, I-XII, Vol. II, - pp. 896-9. Hirsching (Hist.-Litt. Handbuch) says confusedly that - Bode wrote the fourth and fifth parts.] - - [Footnote 40: See _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, LVIII, - p. 98, “Im dritten Bande ist die rührende Geschichte, das - Hündchen, ganz von ihm.” Also Jördens, I, 114, Heine, “Der - deutsche Roman,” p. 23.] - - [Footnote 41: The following may serve as examples of inadequate, - inexact or false renderings: - - ORIGINAL - BODE’S TRANSLATION - - Like a stuck pig. - P. 5: Eine arme Hexe, die Feuer-Probe machen soll. - - Dress as well as undress. - P. 9: Der Kleidung als der Einkleidung. - - Chance medley of sensation. - P. 11: Unschuldiges Verbrechen der Sinne. - - Where serenity was wont to fix her reign. - P. 13: Wo die Heiterkeit ihren Sitz aufgeschlagen hatte. - - Wayward shades of my canvas. - P. 20: Die harten Schattirungen meines Gewebes. - - Caterpillars. - P. 22: Heuschrecken. - - The chance medley of existence. - P. 23: Das unschuldige Verbrechen des Daseyns.] - - [Footnote 42: Bode’s story, “Das Mündel” was printed in the - _Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_, 1769, p. 729 (November - 23) and p. 753 (December 4).] - - [Footnote 43: There will be frequent occasion to mention this - impulse emanating from Sterne, in the following pages. One may - note incidentally an anonymous book “Freundschaften” (Leipzig, - 1775) in which the author beholds a shepherd who finds a torn lamb - and indulges in a sentimental reverie upon it. _Allg. deutsche - Bibl._, XXXVI, 1, 139.] - - [Footnote 44: Bode inserts “Miss Judith Meyer” and “Miss - Philippine Damiens,” two poor novels by this Kölbele in place of - Eugenius’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Böttiger comments, “statt des im - englischen Original angeführten schalen Romans ‘The Pilgrim’s - Progress.’” Bode, in translating Shandy several years later, - inserts for the same book, “Thousand and one Nights.” In speaking - of this, Böttiger calls “Pilgrim’s Progress” “die schale - engländische Robinsonade,” an eloquent proof of Böttiger’s - ignorance of English literature.] - - [Footnote 45: Pp. 166 ff.] - - [Footnote 46: _Quellen und Forschungen_, XXII, p. 129.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -STERNE IN GERMANY AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY - - -The publication of the Sentimental Journey, as implied in the previous -chapter, brought Sterne into vital connection with literary impulses and -emotional experiences in Germany, and his position as a leader was at -once recognized. Because of the immediate translations, the reviews of -the English original are markedly few, even in journals which gave -considerable attention to English literary affairs. The _Neue Bibliothek -der schönen Wissenschaften_[1] purposely delays a full review of the -book because of the promised translation, and contents itself with the -remark, “that we have not read for a long time anything more full of -sentiment and humor.” Yet, strangely enough, the translation is never -worthily treated, only the new edition of 1771 is mentioned,[2] with -especial praise of Füger’s illustrations. - -Other journals devote long reviews to the new favorite: according to the -_Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_[3] all the learned -periodicals vied with one another in lavish bestowal of praise upon -these Journeys. The journals consulted go far toward justifying this -statement. - -The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ reviews both the Bode and -Mittelstedt renderings, together with Bode’s translation of Stevenson’s -continuation, in the second volume of the Anhang to Volumes I-XII.[4] -The critique of Bode’s work defines, largely in the words of the book -itself, the peculiar purpose and method of the Journey, and comments -briefly but with frank enthusiasm on the various touching incidents of -the narrative: “Nur ein von der Natur verwahrloseter bleibt dabei kalt -und gleichgültig,” remarks the reviewer. The conception of Yorick’s -personal character, which prevailed in Germany, obtained by a process of -elimination and misunderstanding, is represented by this critic when he -records without modifying his statement: “Various times Yorick shows -himself as the most genuine foe of self-seeking, of immoral _double -entendre_, and particularly of assumed seriousness, and he scourges them -emphatically.” The review of the third and fourth parts contains a -similar and perhaps even more significant passage illustrating the view -of Yorick’s character held by those who did not know him and had the -privilege of admiring him only in his writings and at a safe distance. -“Yorick,” he says, “although he sometimes brings an event, so to speak, -to the brink of an indecorous issue, manages to turn it at once with the -greatest delicacy to a decorous termination. Or he leaves it incomplete -under such circumstances that the reader is impressed by the rare -delicacy of mind of the author, and can never suspect that such a man, -who never allows a _double entendre_ to enter his mind without a blush, -has entertained an indecent idea.” This view is derived from a somewhat -short-sighted reading of the Sentimental Journey: the obvious Sterne of -Tristram Shandy, and the more insidiously concealed creator of the -Journey could hardly be characterized discriminatingly by such a -statement. Sterne’s cleverness consists not in suggesting his own -innocence of imagination, but in the skill with which he assures his -reader that he is master of the situation, and that no possible -interpretation of the passage has escaped his intelligence. To the -Mittelstedt translation is accorded in this review the distinction of -being, in the rendering of certain passages, more correct than Bode’s. -A reviewer in the _Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitung_[5] treats of the -Sentimental Journey in the Mittelstedt translation. He is evidently -unfamiliar with the original and does not know of Bode’s work, yet his -admiration is unbounded, though his critique is without distinction or -discrimination. The _Neue Critische Nachrichten_[6] of Greifswald gives -a review of Bode’s rendering in which a parallel with Shakespeare is -suggested. The original mingling of instruction and waggery is commented -upon, imitation is discouraged, and the work is held up as a test, -through appreciation or failure to appreciate, of a reader’s ability to -follow another’s feelings, to understand far-away hints and allusions, -to follow the tracks of an irregular and errant wit. - -The _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_ for October 29, 1768, -regards the book in Bode’s translation as an individual, unparalleled -work of genius and discourses at length upon its beneficent medicinal -effects upon those whose minds and hearts are perplexed and clouded. -The wanton passages are acknowledged, but the reviewer asserts that the -author must be pardoned them for the sake of his generous and -kind-hearted thoughts. The Mittelstedt translation is also quoted and -parallel passages are adduced to demonstrate the superiority of Bode’s -translation. - -The Germans naturally learned to know the continuation of Eugenius -chiefly through Bode’s translation, designated as the third and fourth -volumes of the work, and thus because of the sanction of the -intermediary, were led to regard Stevenson’s tasteless, tedious and -revolting narrative with a larger measure of favor than would presumably -have been accorded to the original, had it been circulated extensively -in Germany. After years the _Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung_[7] implies -incidentally that Bode’s esteeming this continuation worthy of his -attention is a fact to be taken into consideration in judging its -merits, and states that Bode beautified it. Bode’s additions and -alterations were, as has been pointed out, all directly along the line -of the Yorick whom the Germans had made for themselves. It is -interesting to observe that the reviewer of these two volumes of the -continuation in the _Neue Critische Nachrichten_,[8] while recognizing -the inevitability of failure in such a bold attempt, and acknowledging -that the outward form of the work may by its similarity be at first -glance seductive, notes two passages of sentiment “worthy even of a -Yorick,”--the episode “Das Hündchen” and the anecdote of the sparrows -which the traveler shot in the garden: both are additions on Bode’s -part, and have no connection with the original. The reviewer thus -singled out for especial approval two interpolations by the German -translator, incidents which in their conception and narration have not -the true English Yorick ring. - -The success of the Sentimental Journey increased the interest in the -incomprehensible Shandy. Lange’s new edition of Zückert’s translation -has been noted, and before long Bode[9] was induced to undertake a -German rendering of the earlier and longer novel. This translation was -finished in the summer of 1774, the preface being dated “End of August.” -The foreword is mainly concerned with Goeze’s attack on Bode’s personal -character, a thrust founded on Bode’s connection with the Sentimental -Journey and its continuation. At the close of this introduction Bode -says that, without undervaluing the intelligence of his readers, he had -regarded notes as essential, but because of his esteem for the text, -and a parental affection for the notes, he has foreborne to insert them -here. “So they still lie in my desk, as many as there are of them, but -upon pressing hints they might be washed and combed, and then be -published under the title perhaps of a ‘Real und Verballexicon über -Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen.’” This hint of a work of his own, -serving as a commentary to Tristram Shandy, has been the occasion of -some discussion. A reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[10] -in an account of Bode’s and Wichmann’s renderings of “Tom Jones,” begs -Bode to fulfill the hopes thus raised, saying he could give Yorick’s -friends no more valuable or treasured gift. Böttiger in his biographical -sketch of Bode expressed regret that the work never saw the light, -adding that the work contained so many allusions to contemporary -celebrities and hits upon Bode’s acquaintance that wisdom had consigned -to oblivion.[11] A correspondent, writing to the _Teutscher Merkur_,[12] -minimizes the importance of this so-called commentary, saying “er hatte -nie einen Kommentar der Art, . . . auch nur angefangen auszuarbeiten. -Die ganze Sache gründet sich auf eine scherzhafte Aeusserung gegen -seinem damaligen Freund in Hamburg, welchen er oft mit der ihm eignen -Ironie mit diesem Kommentar zu drohen pflegte.” - -The list of subscribers to Bode’s translation contained upwards of 650 -names, among which are Boie, Claudius, Einsieder, Gerstenberg, Gleim, -Fräulein von Göchhausen, Goethe, Hamann, Herder, Hippel, Jacobi, -Klopstock, Schummel, Wieland (five copies), and Zimmermann. The names of -Ebert and Lessing are not on the list. The number of subscribers in -Mitau (twelve) is worthy of note, as illustrating the interest in Sterne -still keenly alive in this small and far away town, undoubtedly a direct -result of the admiration so lavishly expressed in other years by Herder, -Hamann and their circle. - -The translation was hailed then as a masterly achievement of an arduous -task, the difficulties of which are only the less appreciated because of -the very excellence of the performance. It contrasts most strikingly -with its clumsy predecessor in its approximation to Sterne’s deftness of -touch, his delicate turns of phrase, his seemingly obvious and facile, -but really delicate and accurate choice of expression. Zückert was -heavy, commonplace, uncompromisingly literal and bristling with -inaccuracies. Bode’s work was unfortunately not free from errors in -spite of its general excellence, yet it brought the book within reach of -those who were unable to read it in English, and preserved, in general -with fidelity, the spirit of the original. The reviews were prodigal of -praise. Wieland’s expressions of admiration were full-voiced and -extensive.[13] - -The _Wandsbecker Bothe_ for October 28, 1774, asserts that many readers -in England had not understood the book as well as Bode, a frequent -expression of inordinate commendation; that Bode follows close on the -heels of Yorick on his most intimate expeditions. The _Frankfurter -Gelehrte Anzeigen_[14] copies in full the translation of the first -chapter as both Zückert and Bode rendered it, and praises the latter in -unqualified terms; Bode appears as “Yorick’s rescuer.” Several years -later, in the _Deutsches Museum_, the well-known French translation of -Shandy by Frenais is denounced as intolerable (unerträglich) to a German -who is acquainted with Bode’s,[15] an opinion emphasized later in the -same magazine[16] by Joseph von Retzer. Indeed, upon these two -translations from Sterne rests Bode’s reputation as a translator. His -“Tom Jones” was openly criticised as bearing too much of Sterne,[17] so -great was the influence of Yorick upon the translator. Klamer Schmidt in -a poem called “Klamersruh, eine ländlich malerische Dichtung,”[18] -dilating upon his favorite authors during a country winter, calls Bode -“our Sterne” and “the ideal translator,” and in some verses by the same -poet, quoted in the article on Bode in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog,”[19] -is found a very significant stanza expressing Sterne’s immeasurable -obligation to his German translator: - - “Er geht zu dir nun, unser Bode! - Empfang ihn, Yoriks Geist! Auch dein - Erbarmt er sich, - Errettete vom Tode - Der Uebersetzer dich!” - -Matthison in his “Gruss aus der Heimath,”[20] pays similar tribute in a -vision connected with a visit to Bode’s resting-place in Weimar. It is a -fanciful relation: as Bode’s shade is received with jubilation and -delight in the Elysian Fields by Cervantes, Rabelais, Montaigne, -Fielding and Sterne, the latter censures Bode for distrusting his own -creative power, indicating that he might have stood with the group just -enumerated, that the fame of being “the most excellent transcriber” of -his age should not have sufficed. - -In view of all this marked esteem, it is rather surprising to find a few -years later a rather sweeping, if apologetic, attack on the rendering of -Shandy. J. L. Benzler, the librarian of Graf Stolberg at Wernigerode, -published in 1801 a translation of Shandy which bore the legend “Newly -translated into German,” but was really a new edition of Bode’s work -with various corrections and alterations.[21] Benzler claims in his -preface that there had been no translation of the masterpiece worthy of -the original, and this was because the existing translation was from the -pen of Bode, in whom one had grown to see the very ideal of a -translator, and because praise had been so lavishly bestowed on the work -by the critics. He then asserts that Bode never made a translation which -did not teem with mistakes; he translated incorrectly through -insufficient knowledge of English, confusing words which sound alike, -made his author say precisely the opposite of what he really did say, -was often content with the first best at hand, with the half-right, and -often erred in taste;--a wholesale and vigorous charge. After such a -disparagement, Benzler disclaims all intention to belittle Bode, or his -service, but he condescendingly ascribes Bode’s failure to his lowly -origin, his lack of systematic education, and of early association with -the cultured world. Benzler takes Bode’s work as a foundation and -rewrites. Some of his changes are distinctly advantageous, and that so -few of these errors in Bode’s translation were noted by contemporary -critics is a proof of their ignorance of the original, or their utter -confidence in Bode.[22] Benzler in his preface of justification -enumerates several extraordinary blunders[23] and then concludes with a -rather inconsistent parting thrust at Bode, the perpetrator of such -nonsense, at the critics who could overlook such errors and praise the -work inordinately, and at the public who ventured to speak with delight -of the work, knowing it only in such a rendering. Benzler was severely -taken to task in the _Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[24] for his -shamelessness in rewriting Bode’s translation with such comparatively -insignificant alterations, for printing on the title page in brazen -effrontery “newly translated into German,” and for berating Bode for his -failure after cursing him with condescension. Passages are cited to -demonstrate the comparative triviality of Benzler’s work. A brief -comparison of the two translations shows that Benzler often translates -more correctly than his predecessor, but still more often makes -meaningless alterations in word-order, or in trifling words where -nothing is to be gained by such a change. - -The same year Benzler issued a similar revision of the Sentimental -Journey,[25] printing again on the title page “newly translated into -German.” The _Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[26] greets this -attempt with a similar tart review, containing parallel quotations as -before, proving Benzler’s inconsiderate presumption. Here Benzler had to -face Bode’s assertion that both Lessing and Ebert had assisted in the -work, and that the former had in his kindness gone through the whole -book. Benzler treats this fact rather cavalierly and renews his attack -on Bode’s rendering. Benzler resented this review and replied to it in a -later number of the same periodical.[27] - -Now that a century and more has elapsed, and personal acrimony can no -longer play any part in criticism, one may justly admit Benzler’s -service in calling attention to inaccurate and inadequate translation, -at the same time one must condemn utterly his manner of issuing his -emendations. In 1831 there appeared a translation of Tristram Shandy -which was again but a revision of Bode’s work. It bore on the title page -“Neu übertragen von W. H.,” and contained a sketch of Sterne’s life.[28] - -In the nineties there seemed to be a renewal of Yorick enthusiasm, and -at this time was brought forth, at Halle in 1794, a profusely annotated -edition of the Sentimental Journey,[29] which was, according to the -anonymous editor, a book not to be read, but to be studied. Claim is -made that the real meaning of the book may be discovered only after -several careful readings, that “empfindsam” in some measure was here -used in the sense of philosophical, that the book should be treated as a -work of philosophy, though clad in pleasing garb; that it should be -thought out according to its merits, not merely read. Yorick’s failure -to supply his chapters with any significant or alluring chapter-headings -(probably the result of indolence on his part) is here interpreted as -extraordinary sagacity, for he thereby lessens the expectations and -heightens the effect. “Eine Empfindungs-reise” is declared to be a more -suitable name than “Empfindsame Reise,” and comment is made upon the -purpose of the Journey, the gathering of material for anatomical study -of the human heart. The notes are numerous and lengthy, constituting a -quarter to a third of the book, but are replete with padding, pointless -babble and occasional puerile inaccuracies. They are largely attempts to -explain and to moralize upon Yorick’s emotions,--a verbose, childish, -witless commentary. The Wortregister contains fourteen pages in double -columns of explanations, in general differing very little from the kind -of information given in the notes. The _Allgemeine Litteratur -Zeitung_[30] devotes a long review chiefly to the explanation of the -errors in this volume, not the least striking of which is the -explanation of the reference to Smelfungus, whom everyone knows to have -been Smollett: “This learned Smelfungus appears to have written nothing -but the Journey which is here mentioned.”[31] As an explanation of the -initial “H” used by Sterne for Hume, the note is given, “The author ‘H’ -was perhaps a poor one.”[32] - -Sterne’s letters were issued first in London in 1775, a rather -surprisingly long time after his death, when one considers how great was -Yorick’s following. According to the prefatory note of Lydia Sterne de -Medalle in the collection which she edited and published, it was the -wish of Mrs. Sterne that the correspondence of her husband, which was in -her possession, be not given to the world, unless other letters bearing -his name should be published. This hesitation on her part must be -interpreted in such a way as to cast a favorable light on this much -maligned gentlewoman, as a delicate reticence on her part, a desire to -retain these personal documents for herself.[33] The power of this -sentiment must be measured by her refraining from publishing during the -five years which intervened between her husband’s death and her own, -March, 1768 to January, 1773--years which were embittered by the -distress of straitened circumstances. It will be remembered that an -effort was made by Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to retrieve their -fortunes by a life of Sterne which was to be a collaboration by -Stevenson and Wilkes, and urgent indeed was Lydia Sterne’s appeal to -these friends of her father to fulfill their promises and lend their -aid. Even when this hope had to be abandoned early in 1770, through the -faithlessness of Sterne’s erstwhile companions, the widow and daughter -turned to other possibilities rather than to the correspondence, though -in the latter lay a more assured means of accomplishing a temporary -revival of their prosperity. This is an evidence of fine feeling on the -part of Sterne’s widow, with which she has never been duly credited. - -But an anonymous editor published early in 1775[34] a volume entitled -“Letters from Yorick to Eliza,” a brief little collection, the source of -which has never been clear, but whose genuineness has never been -questioned. The editor himself waives all claim to proof “which might be -drawn concerning their authenticity from the character of the gentleman -who had the perusal of them, and with Eliza’s permission, faithfully -copied them at Bombay.” - -In July of this same year[35] was published a volume entitled “Sterne’s -Letters to His Friends on Various Occasions, to which is added his -History of a Watchcoat with Explanatory Notes,” containing twelve -letters (one by Dr. Eustace) and the watchcoat story. Some of these -letters had appeared previously in British magazines, and one, copied -from the _London Magazine_, was translated in the _Wandsbecker Bothe_ -for April 16, 1774.[36] A translation of the same letter was given in -the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1774, pp. 286-7. Three of these -letters only are accepted by Prof. Saintsbury (Nos. 7, 124, the letter -of Dr. Eustace, and 125). Of the others, Nos. 4-11 have been judged as -of doubtful authenticity. Two of them, Nos. 11 and 12 (“I beheld her -tender look” and “I feel the weight of obligation”) are in the standard -ten-volume edition of Sterne,[37] but the last letter is probably -spurious also. - -The publication of the letters from Yorick to Eliza was the -justification afforded Lydia Sterne de Medalle for issuing her father’s -correspondence according to her mother’s request: the other volume was -not issued till after it was known that Sterne’s daughter was engaged in -the task of collecting and editing his correspondence. Indeed, the -editor expressly states in his preface that it is not the purpose of the -book to forestall Mme. Medalle’s promised collection; that the letters -in this volume are not to be printed in hers.[38] Mme. Medalle added to -her collection the “Fragment in the manner of Rabelais” and the -invaluable, characteristic scrap of autobiography, which was written -particularly for “my Lydia.” The work appeared at Becket’s in three -volumes, and the dedication to Garrick was dated June, 1775; but, as the -notice in the _Monthly Review_ for October[39] asserts that they have -“been published but a few days,” this date probably represents the time -of the completion of the task, or the inception of the printer’s -work.[40] During the same year the spurious letters from Eliza to Yorick -were issued. - -Naturally Sterne’s letters found readers in Germany, the Yorick-Eliza -correspondence being especially calculated to awaken response.[41] The -English edition of the “Letters from Yorick to Eliza” was reviewed in -the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_,[42] with a hint that -the warmth of the letters might easily lead to a suspicion of unseemly -relationship, but the reviewer contends that virtue and rectitude are -preserved in the midst of such extraordinary tenderness, so that one may -interpret it as a Platonic rather than a sensual affection. Yet this -review cannot be designated as distinctive of German opinion, for it -contains no opinion not directly to be derived from the editor’s -foreword, and that alone; indeed, the wording suggests decidedly that -source. The _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_[43] for April 15, 1775, -reviews the same English edition, but the notice consists of an -introductory statement of Eliza’s identity and translation of parts of -three letters, the “Lord Bathurst letter,” the letter involving the -criticism of Eliza’s portraits,[44] and the last letter to Eliza. The -translation is very weak, abounding in elementary errors; for example, -“She has got your picture and likes it” becomes “Sie hat Ihr Bildniss -gemacht, es ist ähnlich,” and “I beheld you . . . as a very plain woman” -is rendered “und hielt Sie für nichts anders als eine Frau.” The same -journal,[45] August 5, reviews the second collection of Sterne’s -letters, but there is no criticism, merely an introductory statement -taken from the preface, and the translation of two letters, the one to -Mistress V., “Of two bad cassocs, fair lady,” and the epistle beginning, -“I snatch half an hour while my dinner is getting ready.” The -_Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_, 1776, p. 382, also gives in a review -information concerning this anonymous collection, but no criticism. - -One would naturally look to Hamburg for translations of these epistles. -In the very year of their appearance in England we find “Yorick’s Briefe -an Eliza,” Hamburg, bey C. E. Bohn, 1775;[46] “Briefe von Eliza an -Yorick,” Hamburg, bey Bode, 1775; and “Briefe von (Yorick) Sterne an -seine Freunde nebst seiner Geschichte eines Ueberrocks,” Hamburg, bey -Bohn, 1775. The translator’s name is not given, but there is every -reason to suppose that it was the faithful Bode, though only the first -volume is mentioned in Jördens’ account of him, and under his name in -Goedeke’s “Grundriss.” Contemporary reviewers attributed all three books -to Bode, and internal evidence goes to prove it.[47] - -The first volume contains no translator’s preface, and the second, the -spurious Eliza letters, only a brief footnote to the translation of the -English preface. In this note Bode’s identity is evident in the -following quotation: He says he has translated the letters “because I -believe that they will be read with pleasure, and because I fancy I have -a kind of vocation to give in German everything that Sterne has written, -or whatever has immediate relation to his writings.” This note is dated -Hamburg, September 16, 1775. In the third volume, the miscellaneous -collection, there is a translator’s preface in which again Bode’s hand -is evident. He says he knows by sure experience that Sterne’s writings -find readers in Germany; he is assured of the authenticity of the -letters, but is in doubt whether the reader is possessed of sufficient -knowledge of the attending circumstances to render intelligible the -allusion of the watchcoat story. To forfend the possibility of such -dubious appreciation, the account of the watchcoat episode is copied -word for word from Bode’s introduction to the “Empfindsame Reise.”[48] - -In this same year, an unknown translator issued in a single volume a -rendering of these three collections.[49] The following year Mme. -Medalle’s collection was brought out in Leipzig in an anonymous -translation, which has been attributed to Christian Felix Weisse.[50] -Its title was “Lorenz Sterne’s Briefe an seine vertrautesten Freunde -nebst einem Fragment im Geschmack des Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst -verfassten Nachricht von seinem Leben und seiner Familie, herausgegeben -von seiner Tochter Mad. Medalle,” Leipzig, 1776, pp. xxviii, 391. -Weidmanns Erben und Reich. - -Bode’s translation of Yorick’s letters to Eliza is reviewed in the -_Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_, August 9, 1775, with quotation of the -second letter in full. The same journal notes the translation of the -miscellaneous collection, November 4, 1775, giving in full the letter of -Dr. Eustace and Sterne’s reply.[51] The _Allgemeine deutsche -Bibliothek_[52] reviews together the three Hamburg volumes (Bode) and -the Leipzig volume containing the same letters. The utter innocence, the -unquestionably Platonic character of the relations between Yorick and -Eliza is accepted fully. With keen, critical judgment the reviewer is -inclined to doubt the originality of the Eliza letters. Two letters by -Yorick are mentioned particularly, letters which bear testimony to -Yorick’s practical benevolence: one describing his efforts in behalf of -a dishonored maiden, and one concerning the old man who fell into -financial difficulties.[53] Both the translations win approval, but -Bode’s is preferred; they are designated as doubtless his. The “Briefe -an Elisa” (Bode’s translation) are noticed in the _Frankfurter Gelehrte -Anzeigen_, October 3 and 6, 1775, with unrestrained praise of the -translator, and vigorous asseveration of their authenticity. It is -recognized fully that the relation as disclosed was extraordinary among -married people, even Sterne’s amazing statement concerning the fragile -obstacles which stood in the way of their desires is noted. Yet the -Yorick of these letters is accorded undisguised admiration. His love is -exalted above that of Swift for Stella, Waller for Sacharissa, Scarron -for Maintenon,[54] and his godly fear as here exhibited is cited to -offset the outspoken avowal of dishonoring desire.[55] Hamann in a -letter to Herder, June 26, 1780, speaks of the Yorick-Eliza -correspondence quite disparagingly.[56] - -In 1787 another volume of Sterne letters was issued in London, giving -English and German on opposite pages.[57] There are but six letters and -all are probably spurious. - -In 1780 there was published a volume of confessedly spurious letters -entitled “Briefe von Yorick und Elisen, wie sie zwischen ihnen konnten -geschrieben werden.”[58] The introduction contains some interesting -information for the determination of the genuineness of the Sterne -letters.[59] The editor states that the author had written these letters -purely as a diversion, that the editor had proposed their publication, -but was always met with refusal until there appeared in London a little -volume of letters which their editor emphatically declared to be -genuine. This is evidently the volume published by the anonymous editor -in 1775, and our present editor declares that he knows Nos. 4-10 were -from the same pen as the present confessedly spurious collection. They -were mere efforts originally, but, published in provincial papers, found -their way into other journals, and the editor goes on to say, that, -to his astonishment, he saw one of these epistles included in Lydia -Medalle’s collection. This is, of course, No. 5, the one beginning, “The -first time I have dipped my pen in the ink-horn.” These events induced -the author to allow the publication. The book itself consists mostly of -a kind of diary kept by Yorick to send to Eliza at Madeira and later to -India, and a corresponding journal written by Eliza on the vessel and at -Madeira. - -Yorick’s sermons were inevitably less potent in their appeal, and the -editions and translations were less numerous. In spite of obvious -effort, Sterne was unable to infuse into his homiletical discourses any -considerable measure of genuine Shandeism, and his sermons were never as -widely popular as his two novels, either among those who sought him for -whimsical pastime or for sentimental emotion. They were sermons. The -early Swiss translation has been duly noted. - -The third volume of the Zürich edition, which appeared in 1769, -contained the “Reden an Esel,” which the reviewer in the _Allgemeine -deutsche Bibliothek_[60] with acute penetration designates as spurious. -Another translation of these sermons was published at Leipzig, according -to the editor of a later edition[61] (Thorn, 1795), in the same year as -the Zürich issue, 1769. - -The _Berlinische Monatsschrift_[62] calls attention to the excellence of -the work and quotes the sermons at considerable length. The comment -contains the erroneous statement that Sterne was a dissenter, and -opposed to the established church. The translation published at Thorn in -1795, evidently building on this information, continues the error, and, -in explanation of English church affairs, adds as enlightenment the -thirty-nine articles. This translation is confessedly a working-over of -the Leipzig translation already mentioned. It is difficult to discover -how these sermons ever became attached to Sterne’s name, and one can -hardly explain the fact that such a magazine as the _Berlinische -Monatsschrift_[63] should at that late date publish an article so flatly -contradictory to everything for which Sterne stood, so diametrically -opposed to his career, save with the understanding that gross ignorance -attended the original introduction and early imitation of Yorick, and -that this incomprehension, or one-sided appreciation of the real Sterne -persisted in succeeding decades. The German Yorick was the champion of -the oppressed and downtrodden. The author of the “Sermons to Asses” -appeared as such an opponent of coercion and arbitrary power in church -and state, an upholder of human rights; hence, possibly, the authorship -of this book was attributed to Sterne by something the same process as -that which, in the age of heroic deeds, associated a miscellaneous -collection of performances with a popular hero. The “Sermons to Asses” -were written by Rev. James Murray (1732-1782), a noted dissenting -minister, long pastor of High Bridge Chapel in Newcastle-on-Tyne. They -were published in London in 1768 and dedicated to G. W., J. W., W. R. -and M. M.--George Whitfield, John Wesley, William Romaine and Martin -Madan. The English people are represented as burden-bearing asses laden -with oppression in the shape of taxes and creeds.[64] They are directed -against the power of the established church. It is needless to state -that England never associated these sermons with Sterne.[65] The -English edition was also briefly reviewed in the _Hamburgische -Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_[66] without connecting the work with -Sterne. The error was made later, possibly by the translator of the -Zürich edition. - -The new collection of Sterne’s sermons published by Cadell in 1769, -Vols. V, VI, VII, is reviewed by _Unterhaltungen_.[67] A selection from -Sterne’s sermon on the Prodigal Son was published in translation in the -_Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ for April 13, 1768. The new -collection of sermons was translated by A. E. Klausing and published at -Leipzig in 1770, containing eighteen sermons.[68] - -Both during Sterne’s life and after his death books were published -claiming him as their author. In England contemporary criticism -generally stigmatized these impertinent attempts as dubious, or -undoubtedly fraudulent. The spurious ninth volume of Shandy has been -mentioned.[69] The “Sermons to Asses” just mentioned also belong here, -and, with reservation, also Stevenson’s continuation of the Sentimental -Journey, with its claim to recognition through the continuator’s -statement of his relation to Yorick. There remain also a few other books -which need to be mentioned because they were translated into German and -played their part there in shaping the German idea of Yorick. In -general, it may be said that German criticism was never acute in judging -these products, partially perhaps because they were viewed through the -medium of an imperfectly mastered foreign tongue, a mediocre or an -adapted translation. These books obtained relatively a much more -extensive recognition in Germany than in England. - -In 1769 a curious conglomerate was brought over and issued under the -lengthy descriptive title: “Yoricks Betrachtungen über verschiedene -wichtige und angenehme Gegenstände. Nemlich über Nichts, Ueber Etwas, -Ueber das Ding, Ueber die Regierung, Ueber den Toback, Ueber die Nasen, -Ueber die Quaksalber, Ueber die Hebammen, Ueber den Homunculus, Ueber -die Steckenpferde, Ueber das Momusglas, Ueber die Ausschweifungen, Ueber -die Dunkelkeit im Schreiben, Ueber den Unsinn, Ueber die Verbindung der -Ideen, Ueber die Hahnreiter, Ueber den Mann in dem Monde, Ueber -Leibnitzens Monaden, Ueber das was man Vertu nennt, Ueber das Gewissen, -Ueber die Trunkenheit, Ueber den Nachtstuhl, Betrachtungen über -Betrachtungen.--neque--cum lectulus, aut me Porticus excepit, desum -mihi, Horat.” Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1769, 8vo. The book purported to be -a collection of Sterne’s earliest lucubrations, and the translator -expresses his astonishment that no one had ever translated them before, -although they were first issued in 1760. It is without doubt the -translation of an English volume entitled “Yorick’s Meditations upon -interesting and important subjects,” published by Stevens in London, -1760.[70] It had been forgotten in England long before some German -chanced upon it. The preface closes with a long doggerel rhyme, which, -the translator says, he has purposely left untranslated. It is, however, -beyond the shadow of a doubt original with him, as its contents prove. -Yorick in the Elysian Fields is supposed to address himself, he -“anticipates his fate and perceives beforehand that at least one German -critic would deem him worthy of his applause.” - - “Go on, poor Yorik, try once more - In German Dress, thy fate of yore, - Expect few Critics, such, as by - The bucket of Philosophy - From out the bottom of the well - May draw the Sense of what you tell - And spy what wit and Morals sound - Are in thy Rambles to be found.” - -After a passage in which the rhymester enlarges upon the probability of -distorted judgment, he closes with these lines: - - “Dire Fate! but for all that no worse, - You shall be WIELAND’S Hobby-Horse, - So to HIS candid Name, unbrib’d - These meditations be inscrib’d.” - -This was at the time of Wieland’s early enthusiasm, when he was probably -contemplating, if not actually engaged upon a translation of Tristram -Shandy. “Thy fate of yore” in the second line is evidently a poetaster’s -acceptation of an obvious rhyme and does not set Yorick’s German -experience appreciably into the past. The translator supplies frequent -footnotes explaining the allusions to things specifically English. He -makes occasional comparison with German conditions, always with the -claim that Germany is better off, and needs no such satire. The -_Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitungen_ for June 1, 1769, devotes a review -of considerable length to this translation; in it the reviewer asserts -that one would have recognized the father of this creation even if -Yorick’s name had not stood on its forehead; that it closely resembles -its fellows even if one must place it a degree below the Journey. The -_Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek_[71] throws no direct suspicion on the -authenticity, but with customary insight and sanity of criticism finds -in this early work “a great deal that is insipid and affected.” The -_Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, however, in a review -which shows a keen appreciation of Sterne’s style, openly avows an -inclination to question the authenticity, save for the express statement -of the translator; the latter it agrees to trust.[72] The book is placed -far below the Sentimental Journey, below Shandy also, but far above the -artificial tone of many other writers then popular. This relative -ordering of Sterne’s works is characteristic of German criticism. In the -latter part of the review its author seizes on a mannerism, the -exaggerated use of which emphatically sunders the book from the genuine -Sterne, the monotonous repetition of the critic’s protests and Yorick’s -verbal conflicts with them. Sterne himself used this device frequently, -but guardedly, and in ever-changing variety. Its careless use betrays -the mediocre imitator.[73] - -The more famous Koran was also brought to German territory and enjoyed -there a recognition entirely beyond that accorded it in England. This -book was first given to the world in London as the “Posthumous Works of -a late celebrated Genius deceased;”[74] a work in three parts, bearing -the further title, “The Koran, or the Life, Character and Sentiments of -Tria Juncta in Uno, M. N. A., Master of No Arts.” Richard Griffith was -probably the real author, but it was included in the first collected -edition of Sterne’s works, published in Dublin, 1779.[75] The work -purports to be, in part, an autobiography of Sterne, in which the late -writer lays bare the secrets of his life, his early debauchery, his -father’s unworthiness, his profligate uncle, the ecclesiastic, and the -beginning of his literary career by advertising for hack work in London, -being in all a confused mass of impossible detail, loose notes and -disconnected opinion, which contemporary English reviews stigmatize as -manifestly spurious, “an infamous attempt to palm the united effusions -of dullness and indecency upon the world as the genuine production of -the late Mr. Sterne.”[76] - -In France the book was accepted as genuine and it was translated (1853) -by Alfred Hédouin as an authentic work of Sterne. In Germany, too, -it seems to have been recognized with little questioning as to its -genuineness; even in recent years Robert Springer, in an article -treating of Goethe’s relation to the Koran, quite openly contends for -its authenticity.[77] - -Since a German translation appeared in the following year (1771), the -German reviews do not, in the main, concern themselves with the English -original. The _Neues Bremisches Magazin_,[78] however, censures the book -quite severely, but the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[79] -welcomes it with unquestioning praise. The German rendering was by -Johann Gottfried Gellius, and the title was “Yorick’s Nachgelassene -Werke.”[80] The _Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[81] -does acknowledge the doubtful authorship but accepts completely its -Yorick tone and whim--“one cannot tell the copyist from the original.” -Various characteristics are cited as common to this work and Yorick’s -other writings, the contrast, change, confusion, conflict with the -critics and the talk about himself. For the collection of aphorisms, -sayings, fragments and maxims which form the second part of the Koran, -including the “Memorabilia,” the reviewer suggests the name “Sterniana.” -The reviewer acknowledges the occasional failure in attempted thrusts of -wit, the ineffective satire, the immoral innuendo in some passages, -but after the first word of doubt the review passes on into a tone of -seemingly complete acceptation. - -In 1778 another translation of this book appeared, which has been -ascribed to Bode, though not given by Goedeke, Jördens or Meusel. -Its title was “Der Koran, oder Leben und Meynungen des Tria Juncta in -Uno.”[82] The _Almanach der deutschen Musen_[83] treats this work with -full measure of praise. The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[84] accepts -the book in this translation as a genuine product of Sterne’s genius. -Sammer reprinted the “Koran” (Vienna, 1795, 12mo) and included it in his -nine volume edition of Sterne’s complete works (Vienna, 1798). - -Goethe’s connection with the “Koran,” which forms the most interesting -phase of its German career, will be treated later. - -Sterne’s unacknowledged borrowings, his high-handed and extensive -appropriation of work not his own, were noted in Germany, the natural -result of Ferriar’s investigations in England, but they seem never to -have attracted any considerable attention or aroused any serious concern -among Sterne’s admirers so as to imperil his position: the question in -England attached itself as an ungrateful but unavoidable concomitant of -every discussion of Sterne and every attempt to determine his place in -letters. Böttiger tells us that Lessing possessed a copy of Burton’s -“Anatomy of Melancholy,” from which Sterne filched so much wisdom, and -that Lessing had marked in it several of the passages which Ferriar -later advanced as proof of Sterne’s theft. It seems that Bode purchased -this volume at Lessing’s auction in Hamburg. Lessing evidently thought -it not worth while to mention these discoveries, as he is entirely -silent on the subject. Böttiger is, in his account, most unwarrantedly -severe on Ferriar, whom he calls “the bilious Englishman” who attacked -Sterne “with so much bitterness.” This is very far from a veracious -conception of Ferriar’s attitude. - -The comparative indifference in Germany to this phase of Sterne’s -literary career may well be attributed to the medium by which Ferriar’s -findings were communicated to cultured Germany. The book itself, or the -original Manchester society papers, seem never to have been reprinted or -translated, and Germany learned their contents through a _résumé_ -written by Friedrich Nicolai and published in the _Berlinische -Monatsschrift_ for February, 1795, which gives a very sane view of the -subject, one in the main distinctly favorable to Sterne. Nicolai says -Sterne is called with justice “One of the most refined, ingenious and -humorous authors of our time.” He asserts with capable judgment that -Sterne’s use of the borrowed passages, the additions and alterations, -the individual tone which he manages to infuse into them, all preclude -Sterne from being set down as a brainless copyist. Nicolai’s attitude -may be best illustrated by the following passages: - -“Germany has authors enough who resemble Sterne in lack of learning. -Would that they had a hundredth part of the merits by which he made up -for this lack, or rather which resulted from it.” “We would gladly allow -our writers to take their material from old books, and even many -expressions and turns of style, and indeed whole passages, even if like -Sterne . . . . they claimed it all as their own: only they must be -successful adapters; they must add from their own store of observation -and thought and feeling. The creator of Tristram Shandy does this in -rich measure.” - -Nicolai also contends that Sterne was gifted with two characteristic -qualities which were not imitation,--his “Empfindsamkeit” and -“Laune”--and that by the former his works breathe a tender, delicate -beneficence, a character of noble humanity, while by the latter a spirit -of fairest mirth is spread over his pages, so that one may never open -them without a pleasant smile. “The investigation of sources,” he says, -“serves as explanation and does not mean depreciation of an otherwise -estimable author.” - -By this article Nicolai choked the malicious criticism of the late -favorite which might have followed from some sources, had another -communicated the facts of Sterne’s thievery. Lichtenberg in the -“Göttingischer Taschenkalender,” 1796, that is, after the publication of -Nicolai’s article, but with reference to Ferriar’s essay in the -Manchester Memoirs, Vol. IV, under the title of “Gelehrte Diebstähle” -does impugn Sterne rather spitefully without any acknowledgment of his -extraordinary and extenuating use of his borrowings. “Yorick,” he says, -“once plucked a nettle which had grown upon Lorenzo’s grave; that was no -labor for him. Who will uproot this plant which Ferriar has set on his?” -Ferriar’s book was reviewed by the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen -Wissenschaften_, LXII, p. 310. - -Some of the English imitations of Sterne, which did not actually claim -him as author, also found their way to Germany, and there by a less -discriminating public were joined in a general way to the mass of Yorick -production, and the might of Yorick influence. These works represent -almost exclusively the Sterne of the Sentimental Journey; for the shoal -of petty imitations, explanations and protests which appeared in England -when Shandy was first issued[85] had gone their own petty way to -oblivion before Germany awakened to Sterne’s influence. - -One of the best known of the English Sentimental Journeys was the work -of Samuel Paterson, entitled, “Another Traveller: or Cursory Remarks and -Critical Observations made upon a Journey through Part of the -Netherlands,--by Coriat Junior,” London, 1768, two volumes. The author -protested in a pamphlet published a little later that his work was not -an imitation of Sterne, that it was in the press before Yorick’s book -appeared; but a reviewer[86] calls his attention to the sentimental -journeying already published in Shandy. This work was translated into -German as “Empfindsame Reisen durch einen Theil der Niederlande,” -Bützow, 1774-1775, 2 Parts, 8vo. The translator was Karl Friedrich -Müchler, who showed his bent in the direction of wit and whim by the -publication of several collections of humorous anecdotes, witty ideas -and satirical skits.[87] - -Much later a similar product was published, entitled “Launige Reise -durch Holland in Yoricks[88] Manier, mit Charakterskizzen und Anekdoten -über die Sitten und Gebräuche der Holländer aus dem Englischen,” two -volumes, Zittau und Leipzig, 1795. The translation was by Reichel in -Zittau.[88] This may possibly be Ireland’s “A Picturesque Tour through -Holland, Brabant and part of France, made in 1789,” two volumes, London, -1790.[89] The well-known “Peter Pennyless” was reproduced as -“Empfindsame Gedanken bey verschiedenen Vorfällen von Peter Pennyless,” -Leipzig, Weidmann, 1770. - -In 1788 there appeared in England a continuation of the Sentimental -Journey[90] in which, to judge from the reviewers, the petty author -outdid Sterne in eccentricities of typography, breaks, dashes, scantily -filled and blank pages. This is evidently the original of “Die neue -empfindsame Reise in Yoriks Geschmack,” Leipzig, 1789, 8vo, pp. 168, -which, according to the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ bristles with -such extravagances.[91] - -A much more successful attempt was the “Sentimental Journey, Intended as -a Sequel to Mr. Sterne’s, Through Italy, Switzerland and France, by Mr. -Shandy,” two volumes, 12mo, 1793. This was evidently the original of -Schink’s work;[92] “Empfindsame Reisen durch Italien, die Schweiz und -Frankreich, ein Nachtrag zu den Yorikschen. Aus und nach dem -Englischen,” Hamburg, Hoffmann, 1794, pp. 272, 8vo. The translator’s -preface, which is dated Hamburg, March 1794, explains his attitude -toward the work as suggested in the expression “Aus und nach dem -Englischen,” that is, “aus, so lange wie Treue für den Leser Gewinn -schien und nach, wenn Abweichung für die deutsche Darstellung notwendig -war.” He claims to have softened the glaring colors of the original and -to have discarded, or altered the obscene pictures. The author, as -described in the preface, is an illegitimate son of Yorick, named -Shandy, who writes the narrative as his father would have written it, -if he had lived. This assumed authorship proves quite satisfactorily its -connection with the English original, as there, too, in the preface, the -narrator is designated as a base-born son of Yorick. The book is, as a -whole, a fairly successful imitation of Yorick’s manner, and it must be -judged as decidedly superior to Stevenson’s attempt. The author takes up -the story where Sterne left it, in the tavern room with the Piedmontese -lady; and the narrative which follows is replete with allusions to -familiar episodes and sentiments in the real Journey, with sentimental -adventures and opportunities for kindly deeds, and sympathetic tears; -motifs used originally are introduced here, a begging priest with a -snuff-box, a confusion with the Yorick in Hamlet, a poor girl with -wandering mind seated by the wayside, and others equally familiar. - -It is not possible to determine the extent of Schink’s alterations to -suit German taste, but one could easily believe that the somewhat -lengthy descriptions of external nature, quite foreign to Sterne, were -original with him, and that the episode of the young German lady by the -lake of Geneva, with her fevered admiration for Yorick, and the -compliments to the German nation and the praise for great Germans, -Luther, Leibnitz and Frederick the Great, are to be ascribed to the same -source. He did not rid the book of revolting features, as one might -suppose from his preface.[93] Previous to the publication of the whole -translation, Schink published in the February number of the _Deutsche -Monatsschrift_[94] two sections of his book, “Die Schöne -Obstverkäuferin” and “Elisa.” Later, in the May number, he published -three other fragments, “Turin, Hotel del Ponto,” “Die Verlegenheit,” -“Die Unterredung.”[95] - -A few years later Schink published another and very similar volume with -the title, “Launen, Phantasieen und Schilderungen aus dem Tagebuche -eines reisenden Engländers,”[96] Arnstadt und Rudolstadt, 1801, pp. 323. -It has not been possible to find an English original, but the translator -makes claim upon one, though confessing alterations to suit his German -readers, and there is sufficient internal evidence to point to a real -English source. The traveler is a haggard, pale-faced English clergyman, -who, with his French servant, La Pierre, has wandered in France and -Italy and is now bound for Margate. Here again we have sentimental -episodes, one with a fair lady in a post-chaise, another with a monk in -a Trappist cloister, apostrophes to the imagination, the sea, and -nature, a new division of travelers, a debate of personal attributes, -constant appeals to his dear Sophie, who is, like Eliza, ever in the -background, occasional references to objects made familiar through -Yorick, as Dessein’s Hotel, and a Yorick-like sympathy with the dumb -beast; in short, an open imitation of Sterne, but the motifs from Sterne -are here more mixed and less obvious. There is, as in the former book, -much more enthusiasm for nature than is characteristic of Sterne; and -there is here much more miscellaneous material, such, for example, -as the tale of the two sisters, which betrays no trace of Sterne’s -influence. The latter part of the volume is much less reminiscent of -Yorick and suggests interpolation by the translator.[97] - -Near the close of the century was published “Fragments in the manner of -Sterne,” 8vo, Debrett, 1797, which, according to the _Monthly -Review_,[98] caught in large measure the sentimentality, pathos and -whimsicality of Sterne’s style. The British Museum catalogue suggests -J. Brandon as its author. This was reprinted by Nauck in Leipzig in -1800, and a translation was given to the world by the same publisher in -the same year, with the added title: “Ein Seitenstück zu Yoricks -empfindsamen Reisen.” The translation is attributed by Kayser to Aug. -Wilhelmi, the pseudonym of August Wilhelm Meyer.[99] Here too belongs -“Mariens Briefe nebst Nachricht von ihrem Tode, aus dem -Englischen,”[100] which was published also under the title: “Yoricks -Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien,” 5th vol., 8vo, -Weissenfels, Severin, Mitzky in Leipzig, 1795. - - - [Footnote 1: VI, 1, p. 166. 1768.] - - [Footnote 2: XII, 1, p. 142.] - - [Footnote 3: August 28, 1769. P. 574.] - - [Footnote 4: Pp. 896-9.] - - [Footnote 5: III, pp. 689-91, October 31, 1768.] - - [Footnote 6: V, No. 5, p. 37, 1769, review is signed “Z.”] - - [Footnote 7: 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7.] - - [Footnote 8: Greifswald, VI, p. 300.] - - [Footnote 9: See p. 42.] - - [Footnote 10: Anhang LIII-LXXXVI. Vol. V, pp. 2611-2614.] - - [Footnote 11: This is repeated by Jördens.] - - [Footnote 12: 1799. I, p. 36.] - - [Footnote 13: _Teut. Merkur_, VIII, pp. 247-251.] - - [Footnote 14: April 21, 1775, pp. 267-70.] - - [Footnote 15: Hirsching (see above) says it rivals the original.] - - [Footnote 16: The references to the _Deutsches Museum_ are - respectively IX, pp. 273-284, April, 1780, and X, pp. 553-5.] - - [Footnote 17: See Jördens I, p. 117, probably depending on the - critique in the _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ Anhang, LIII-LXXXVI, Vol. - V, pp. 2611-2614.] - - [Footnote 18: _Erholungen_ III, pp. 1-51.] - - [Footnote 19: Supplementband für 1790-93, p. 410.] - - [Footnote 20: Werke, Zürich, 1825-29, pp. 312 ff.] - - [Footnote 21: “Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meynungen von neuem - verdeutscht, Leipzig, 1801, I, pp. 572; II, pp. 532; III, pp. 430. - Mit 3 Kupfern und 3 Vignetten nach Chodowiecki von J. F. - Schröter.” A new edition appeared at Hahn’s in Hanover in 1810. - This translation is not given by Goedeke under Benzler’s name.] - - [Footnote 22: Wieland does modify his enthusiasm by acknowledgment - of inadequacies and devotes about a page of his long review to the - correction of seven incorrect renderings. _Teut. Merkur_, VIII, - pp. 247-51, 1774, IV.] - - [Footnote 23: The following may serve as examples of Bode’s - errors. He translated, “Pray, what was your father saying?” (I, 6) - by “Was wollte denn Ihr Vater damit sagen?” a rendering obviously - inadequate. “It was a little hard on her” (I, p. 52) becomes in - Bode, “Welches sie nun freilich schwer ablegen konnte;” and “Great - wits jump” (I, 168) is translated “grosse Meister fehlen auch.”] - - [Footnote 24: LXXIII, pp. 75-81.] - - [Footnote 25: Leipzig, 1801, 8vo, I, 168; II, 170. 2 Kupf. und 2 - Vignetten nach Chodowiecki von G. Böttiger.] - - [Footnote 26: LXXIX, pp. 371-377.] - - [Footnote 27: LXXXII, I, p. 199.] - - [Footnote 28: Magdeburg, I, pp. 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 154; - IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 236.] - - [Footnote 29: A Sentimental Journey, mit erläuternden Anmerkungen - und einem Wortregister.] - - [Footnote 30: Jena, 1795, II, pp. 427-30.] - - [Footnote 31: P. 49.] - - [Footnote 32: The edition is also reviewed in the _Erfurtische - Gelehrte Zeitung_ (1796, p. 294.)] - - [Footnote 33: The threat of Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to - publish the letters to Mrs. Draper would seem to be at variance - with this idea of Mrs. Sterne’s character, but her resentment or - indignation, and a personal satisfaction at her former rival’s - discomfiture are inevitable, and femininely human.] - - [Footnote 34: They are reviewed in the April number of the - _Monthly Review_ (LII, pp. 370-371), and in the April number of the - _London Magazine_ (XLIV, pp. 200-201).] - - [Footnote 35: It is noted among the publications in the July - number of the _London Magazine_, XLIV, p. 371, and is reviewed in - the September number of the _Monthly Review_, LIII, pp. 266-267. - It was really published on July 12. (_The Nation_, November 17, - 1904.)] - - [Footnote 36: The letter beginning “The first time I have dipped - my pen in the ink-horn,” addressed to Mrs. M-d-s and dated - Coxwould, July 21, 1765. The _London Magazine_ (1775, pp. 530-531) - also published the eleventh letter of the series, that concerning - the unfortunate Harriet: “I beheld her tender look.”] - - [Footnote 37: Dodsley, etc., 1793.] - - [Footnote 38: Two letters, however, were given in both volumes, - the letter to Mrs. M-d-s, “The first time I have dipped,” etc., - and that to Garrick, “’Twas for all the world like a cut,” etc., - being in the Mme. Medalle collection, Nos. 58 and 77 (II, pp. - 126-131, 188-192) and in the anonymous collection Nos. 1 and 5. - The first of these two letters was without indication of addressee - in the anonymous collection, and was later directed to Eugenius - (in the American edition, Harrisburg, 1805).] - - [Footnote 39: LIII, pp. 340-344. The publication was October 25. - See _The Nation_, November 17, 1904.] - - [Footnote 40: The _London Magazine_ gives the first announcement - among the books for October (Vol. XLVI, p. 538), but does not - review the collection till December (XLIV, p. 649).] - - [Footnote 41: Some selections from these letters were evidently - published before their translation in the _Englische Allgemeine - Bibliothek_. See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1775, p. 667.] - - [Footnote 42: XVIII, p. 177, 1775.] - - [Footnote 43: 1775, I, pp. 243-246.] - - [Footnote 44: Letters Nos. 83 and 86.] - - [Footnote 45: 1775, II p. 510.] - - [Footnote 46: This volume was noted by _Jenaische Zeitungen von - Gelehrten Sachen_, September, 4, 1775.] - - [Footnote 47: A writer in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog” says that - Bode’s own letters to “einige seiner vertrauten Freundinnen” in - some respects surpass those of Yorick to Eliza.] - - [Footnote 48: Another translator would in this case have made - direct acknowledgment to Bode for the borrowed information, a fact - indicating Bode as the translator of the volume.] - - [Footnote 49: “Lorenz Sterne’s oder Yorick’s Briefwechsel mit - Elisen und seinen übrigen Freunden.” Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und - Reich. 1775, 8vo.] - - [Footnote 50: Weisse is credited with the translation in Kayser, - but it is not given under his name in Goedeke.] - - [Footnote 51: References to the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_ are - p. 518 and p. 721, 1775.] - - [Footnote 52: XXVIII, 2, p. 489, 1776.] - - [Footnote 53: These are, of course, the spurious letters Nos. 8 - and 11, “I beheld her tender look” and “I have not been a furlong - from Shandy-Hall.”] - - [Footnote 54: This is a quotation from one of the letters, but the - review repeats it as its own.] - - [Footnote 55: For a rather unfavorable criticism of the - Yorick-Eliza letters, see letter of Wilh. Ludw. Medicus to - Höpfner, March 16, 1776, in “Briefe aus dem Freundeskreise von - Goethe, Herder, Höpfner und Merck,” ed. by K. Wagner, Leipzig, - 1847.] - - [Footnote 56: Hamann’s Schriften, ed. by Roth, VI, p. 145: - “Yorick’s und Elisens Briefe sind nicht der Rede werth.”] - - [Footnote 57: London, Thomas Cornan, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 8vo, - pp. 63. These letters are given in the first American edition, - Harrisburg, 1805, pp. 209-218 and 222-226.] - - [Footnote 58: Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und Reich, I, pp. 142; - II, pp. 150.] - - [Footnote 59: The English original is probably that by William - Combe, published in 1779, two volumes. This original is reviewed - in the _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, XXIV, p. 186, - 1780.] - - [Footnote 60: XII, 1, pp. 210-211. Doubt is also suggested in the - _Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1769, IV, p. 295.] - - [Footnote 61: Reviewed in _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1798, II, p. 14, - without suggestion of doubtful authenticity.] - - [Footnote 62: XX, pp. 79-103, 1792.] - - [Footnote 63: They are still credited to Sterne, though with - admitted doubt, in Hirsching (1809). It would seem from a letter - of Hamann’s that Germany also thrust another work upon Sterne. The - letter is directed to Herder: “Ich habe die nichtswürdige Grille - gehabt einen unförmlichen Auszug einer englischen Apologie des - Rousseau, die den Sterne zum Verfasser haben soll, in die - _Königsberger Zeitung_ einflicken zu lassen.” See Hamann’s - Schriften, Roth’s edition, III, p. 374. Letter is dated July 29, - 1767. Rousseau is mentioned in Shandy, III, p. 200, but there is - no reason to believe that he ever wrote anything about him.] - - [Footnote 64: The edition examined is that of William Howe, - London, 1819, which contains “New Sermons to Asses,” and other - sermons by Murray.] - - [Footnote 65: For reviews see _Monthly Review_, 1768, Vol. XXXIX, - pp. 100-105; _Gentleman’s Magazine_, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 188 (April). - They were thus evidently published early in the year 1768.] - - [Footnote 66: 1768, p. 220.] - - [Footnote 67: VII, p. 360.] - - [Footnote 68: Review in _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XIII, 1, p. 241. - The reviewer is inclined to doubt their authenticity.] - - [Footnote 69: A spurious third volume was the work of John Carr - (1760).] - - [Footnote 70: See _Monthly Review_, XXIII, p. 84, July 1760, and - _London Magazine_, Monthly Catalogue for July and August, 1760. - _Scott’s Magazine_, XXII, p. 389, July, 1760.] - - [Footnote 71: XIV, 2, p. 621.] - - [Footnote 72: But in a later review in the same periodical - (V, p. 726) this book, though not mentioned by name, yet clearly - meant, is mentioned with very decided expression of doubt. The - review quoted above is III, p. 737. 1769.] - - [Footnote 73: This work was republished in Braunschweig at the - Schulbuchhandlung in 1789.] - - [Footnote 74: According to the _Universal Magazine_ (XLVI, p. 111) - the book was issued in February, 1770. It was published in two - volumes.] - - [Footnote 75: Sidney Lee in Nat’l Dict. of Biography. It was also - given in the eighth volume of the Edinburgh edition of Sterne, - 1803.] - - [Footnote 76: See _London Magazine_, June, 1770, VI, p. 319; also - _Monthly Review_, XLII, pp. 360-363, May, 1770. The author of this - latter critique further proves the fraudulence by asserting that - allusion is made in the book to “facts and circumstances which did - not happen until Yorick was dead.”] - - [Footnote 77: It is obviously not the place here for a full - discussion of this question. Hédouin in the appendix of his “Life - of Goethe” (pp. 291 ff) urges the claims of the book and resents - Fitzgerald’s rather scornful characterization of the French - critics who received the work as Sterne’s (see Life of Sterne, - 1864, II, p. 429). Hédouin refers to Jules Janin (“Essai sur la - vie et les ouvrages de Sterne”) and Balzac (“Physiologie du - mariage,” Meditation xvii,) as citing from the work as genuine. - Barbey d’Aurevilly is, however, noted as contending in _la Patrie_ - against the authenticity. This is probably the article to be found - in his collection of Essays, “XIX Siècle, Les oeuvres et les - hommes,” Paris, 1890, pp. 73-93. Fitzgerald mentions Chasles among - French critics who accept the book. Springer is incorrect in his - assertion that the Koran appeared seven years after Sterne’s - death, but he is probably building on the incorrect statement in - the _Quarterly Review_ (XCIV, pp. 303 ff). Springer also asserts - erroneously that it was never published in Sterne’s collected - works. He is evidently disposed to make a case for the Koran and - finds really his chief proof in the fact that both Goethe and Jean - Paul accepted it unquestioningly. Bodmer quotes Sterne from the - Koran in a letter to Denis, April 4, 1771, “M. Denis Lit. - Nachlass,” ed. by Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, p. 120, and other German - authors have in a similar way made quotations from this work, - without questioning its authenticity.] - - [Footnote 78: III, p. 537, 1771.] - - [Footnote 79: X, p. 173.] - - [Footnote 80: Leipzig, Schwickert, 1771, pp. 326, 8vo.] - - [Footnote 81: V, p. 726.] - - [Footnote 82: Hamburg, Herold, 1778, pp. 248, 12mo.] - - [Footnote 83: 1779, p. 67.] - - [Footnote 84: Anhang to XXV-XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 768.] - - [Footnote 85: As products of the year 1760, one may note: - - Tristram Shandy at Ranelagh, 8vo, Dunstan. - - Tristram Shandy in a Reverie, 8vo, Williams. - - Explanatory Remarks upon the Life and Opinions of Tristram - Shandy, by Jeremiah Kunastrokins, 12mo, Cabe. - - A Genuine Letter from a Methodist Preacher in the Country to - Laurence Sterne, 8vo, Vandenberg. - - A Shandean essay on Human Passions, etc., by Caleb MacWhim, 4to, - Cooke. - - Yorick’s Meditations upon Interesting and Important Subjects. - - The Life and Opinions of Miss Sukey Shandy, Stevens. - - The Clockmaker’s Outcry Against Tristram Shandy, Burd. - - The Rake of Taste, or the Elegant Debauchee (another ape of the - Shandean style, according to _London Magazine_). - - A Supplement to the Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, by the - author of Yorick’s Meditations, 12mo.] - - [Footnote 86: _Monthly Review_, XL, p. 166.] - - [Footnote 87: “Der Reisegefährte,” Berlin, 1785-86. “Komus oder - der Freund des Scherzes und der Laune,” Berlin, 1806. “Museum des - Witzes der Laune und der Satyre,” Berlin, 1810. For reviews of - Coriat in German periodicals see _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, - 1774, p. 378; _Leipziger Musen-Almanach_, 1776, p. 85; _Almanach - der Deutschen Musen_, 1775, p. 84; _Unterhaltungen_, VII, p. 167.] - - [Footnote 88: See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1796, I, p. 256.] - - [Transcriber’s Note: - The first of the two footnote tags may be an error.] - - [Footnote 89: The identity could be proven or disproven by - comparison. There is a copy of the German work in the Leipzig - University Library. Ireland’s book is in the British Museum.] - - [Footnote 90: See the _English Review_, XIII, p. 69, 1789, and the - _Monthly Review_, LXXIX, p. 468, 1788.] - - [Footnote 91: _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1791, I, p. 197. A sample of - the author’s absurdity is given there in quotation.] - - [Footnote 92: Joh. Friedrich Schink, better known as a dramatist.] - - [Footnote 93: See the story of the gentlewoman from Thionville, - p. 250, and elsewhere.] - - [Footnote 94: The references to the _Deutsche Monatsschrift_ are - respectively, I, pp. 181-188, and II, pp. 65-71.] - - [Footnote 95: For review of Schink’s book see _Allg. Litt. - Zeitung_, 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7. Böttiger seems to think that - Schink’s work is but another working over of Stevenson’s - continuation.] - - [Footnote 96: It is not given by Goedeke or Meusel, but is given - among Schink’s works in “Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen,” Weimar, - 1835-1837, XIII, pp. 161-165.] - - [Footnote 97: In both these books the English author may perhaps - be responsible for some of the deviation from Sterne’s style.] - - [Footnote 98: CV, p. 271.] - - [Footnote 99: Kayser notes another translation, “Fragmente in - Yorick’s Manier, aus dem Eng., mit Kpf., 8vo.” London, 1800. It is - possibly identical with the one noted above. A second edition of - the original came out in 1798.] - - [Footnote 100: The original of this was published by Kearsley in - London, 1790, 12mo, a teary contribution to the story of Maria of - Moulines.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STERNE’S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY - - -Thus in manifold ways Sterne was introduced into German life and -letters.[1] He stood as a figure of benignant humanity, of lavish -sympathy with every earthly affliction, he became a guide and mentor,[2] -an awakener and consoler, and probably more than all, a sanction for -emotional expression. Not only in literature, but in the conduct of life -was Yorick judged a preceptor. The most important attempt to turn -Yorick’s teachings to practical service in modifying conduct in human -relationships was the introduction and use of the so-called -“Lorenzodosen.” The considerable popularity of this remarkable conceit -is tangible evidence of Sterne’s influence in Germany and stands in -striking contrast to the wavering enthusiasm, vigorous denunciation and -half-hearted acknowledgment which marked Sterne’s career in England. -A century of criticism has disallowed Sterne’s claim as a prophet, but -unquestionably he received in Germany the honors which a foreign land -proverbially accords. - -To Johann Georg Jacobi, the author of the “Winterreise” and -“Sommerreise,” two well-known imitations of Sterne, the sentimental -world was indebted for this practical manner of expressing adherence to -a sentimental creed.[3] In the _Hamburgischer Correspondent_ he -published an open letter to Gleim, dated April 4, 1769, about the time -of the inception of the “Winterreise,” in which letter he relates at -considerable length the origin of the idea.[4] A few days before this -the author was reading to his brother, Fritz Jacobi, the philosopher, -novelist and friend of Goethe, and a number of ladies, from Sterne’s -Sentimental Journey the story of the poor Franciscan who begged alms of -Yorick. “We read,” says Jacobi, “how Yorick used this snuff-box to -invoke its former possessor’s gentle, patient spirit, and to keep his -own composed in the midst of life’s conflicts. The good Monk had died: -Yorick sat by his grave, took out the little snuff-box, plucked a few -nettles from the head of the grave, and wept. We looked at one another -in silence: each rejoiced to find tears in the others’ eyes; we honored -the death of the venerable old man Lorenzo and the good-hearted -Englishman. In our opinion, too, the Franciscan deserved more to be -canonized than all the saints of the calendar. Gentleness, contentedness -with the world, patience invincible, pardon for the errors of mankind, -these are the primary virtues he teaches his disciples.” The moment was -too precious not to be emphasized by something rememberable, perceptible -to the senses, and they all purchased for themselves horn snuff-boxes, -and had the words “Pater Lorenzo” written in golden letters on the -outside of the cover and “Yorick” within. Oath was taken for the sake of -Saint Lorenzo to give something to every Franciscan who might ask of -them, and further: “If anyone in our company should allow himself to be -carried away by anger, his friend holds out to him the snuff-box, and we -have too much feeling to withstand this reminder even in the greatest -violence of passion.” It is suggested also that the ladies, who use no -tobacco, should at least have such a snuff-box on their night-stands, -because to them belong in such a high degree those gentle feelings which -were to be associated with the article. - -This letter printed in the Hamburg paper was to explain the snuff-box, -which Jacobi had sent to Gleim a few days before, and the desire is also -expressed to spread the order. Hence others were sent to other friends. -Jacobi goes on to say: “Perhaps in the future, I may have the pleasure -of meeting a stranger here and there who will hand me the horn snuff-box -with its golden letters. I shall embrace him as intimately as one Free -Mason does another after the sign has been given. Oh! what a joy it -would be to me, if I could introduce so precious a custom among my -fellow-townsmen.” A reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[5] -sharply condemns Jacobi for his conceit in printing publicly a letter -meant for his friend or friends, and, to judge from the words with which -Jacobi accompanies the abridged form of the letter in the later editions -it would seem that Jacobi himself was later ashamed of the whole affair. -The idea, however, was warmly received, and among the teary, sentimental -enthusiasts the horn snuff-box soon became the fad. A few days after the -publication of this letter, Wittenberg,[6] the journalist in Hamburg, -writes to Jacobi (April 21) that many in Hamburg desire to possess these -snuff-boxes, and he adds: “A hundred or so are now being manufactured; -besides the name Lorenzo, the following legend is to appear on the -cover: Animae quales non candidiores terra tulit.” Wittenberg explains -that this Latin motto was a suggestion of his own, selfishly made, -for thereby he might win the opportunity of explaining it to the fair -ladies, and exacting kisses for the service. Wittenberg asserts that a -lady (Longo guesses a certain Johanna Friederike Behrens) was the first -to suggest the manufacture of the article at Hamburg. A second letter[7] -from Wittenberg to Jacobi four months later (August 21, 1769) announces -the sending of nine snuff-boxes to Jacobi, and the price is given as -one-half a reichsthaler. Jacobi himself says in his note to the later -edition that merchants made a speculation out of the fad, and that a -multitude of such boxes were sent out through all Germany, even to -Denmark and Livonia: “they were in every hand,” he says. Graf Solms had -such boxes made of tin with the name Jacobi inside. Both Martin and -Werner instance the request[8] of a Protestant vicar, Johann David Goll -in Trossingen, for a “Lorenzodose” with the promise to subscribe to the -oath of the order, and, though Protestant, to name the Catholic -Franciscan his brother. According to a spicy review[9] in the -_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[10] these snuff-boxes were sold in -Hamburg wrapped in a printed copy of Jacobi’s letter to Gleim, and the -reviewer adds, “like Grenough’s tooth-tincture in the directions for its -use.”[11] Nicolai in “Sebaldus Nothanker” refers to the Lorenzo cult -with evident ridicule.[12] - -There were other efforts to make Yorick’s example an efficient power of -beneficent brotherliness. Kaufmann attempted to found a Lorenzo order of -the horn snuff-box. Düntzer, in his study of Kaufmann,[13] states that -this was only an effort on Kaufmann’s part to embrace a timely -opportunity to make himself prominent. This endeavor was made according -to Düntzer, during Kaufmann’s residence in Strassburg, which the -investigator assigns to the years 1774-75. Leuchsenring,[14] the -eccentric sentimentalist, who for a time belonged to the Darmstadt -circle and whom Goethe satirized in “Pater Brey,” cherished also for a -time the idea of founding an order of “Empfindsamkeit.” - -In the literary remains of Johann Christ Hofmann[15] in Coburg was found -the “patent” of an order of “Sanftmuth und Versöhnung.” A “Lorenzodose” -was found with it marked XXVIII, and the seven rules of the order, dated -Coburg “im Ordens-Comtoir, den 10 August, 1769,” are merely a topical -enlargement and ordering of Jacobi’s original idea. Longo gives them in -full. Appell states that Jacobi explained through a friend that he knew -nothing of this order and had no share in its founding. Longo complains -that Appell does not give the source of his information, but Jacobi in -his note to the so-called “Stiftungs-Brief” in the edition of 1807 -quotes the article in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog” as his only knowledge -of this order, certainly implying his previous ignorance of its -existence. - -Somewhat akin to these attempts to incorporate Yorick’s ideas is the -fantastic laying out of the park at Marienwerder near Hanover, of which -Matthison writes in his “Vaterländische Besuche,”[16] and in a letter to -the Hofrath von Köpken in Magdeburg,[17] dated October 17, 1785. After a -sympathetic description of the secluded park, he tells how labyrinthine -paths lead to an eminence “where the unprepared stranger is surprised by -the sight of a cemetery. On the crosses there one reads beloved names -from Yorick’s Journey and Tristram Shandy. Father Lorenzo, Eliza, Maria -of Moulines, Corporal Trim, Uncle Toby and Yorick were gathered by a -poetic fancy to this graveyard.” The letter gives a similar description -and adds the epitaph on Trim’s monument, “Weed his grave clean, ye men -of goodness, for he was your brother,”[18] a quotation, which in its -fuller form, Matthison uses in a letter[19] to Bonstetten, Heidelberg, -February 7, 1794, in speaking of Böck the actor. It is impossible to -determine whose eccentric and tasteless enthusiasm is represented by -this mortuary arrangement. - -Louise von Ziegler, known in the Darmstadt circle as Lila, whom Merck -admired and, according to Caroline Flaschsland, “almost compared with -Yorick’s Maria,” was so sentimental that she had her grave made in her -garden, evidently for purposes of contemplation, and she led a lamb -about which ate and drank with her. Upon the death of this animal, -“a faithful dog” took its place. Thus was Maria of Moulines -remembered.[20] - -It has already been noted that Yorick’s sympathy for the brute creation -found cordial response in Germany, such regard being accepted as a part -of his message. That the spread of such sentimental notions was not -confined to the printed word, but passed over into actual regulation of -conduct is admirably illustrated by an anecdote related in Wieland’s -_Teutscher Merkur_ in the January number for 1776, by a correspondent -who signs himself “S.” A friend was visiting him; they went to walk, and -the narrator having his gun with him shot with it two young doves. His -friend is exercised. “What have the doves done to you?” he queries. -“Nothing,” is the reply, “but they will taste good to you.” “But they -were alive,” interposed the friend, “and would have caressed -(geschnäbelt) one another,” and later he refuses to partake of the -doves. Connection with Yorick is established by the narrator himself: -“If my friend had not read Yorick’s story about the sparrow, he would -have had no rule of conduct here about shooting doves, and my doves -would have tasted better to him.” The influence of Yorick was, however, -quite possibly indirect through Jacobi as intermediary; for the latter -describes a sentimental family who refused to allow their doves to be -killed. The author of this letter, however, refers directly to Yorick, -to the very similar episode of the sparrows narrated in the continuation -of the Sentimental Journey, but an adventure original with the German -Bode. This is probably the source of Jacobi’s narrative. - -The other side of Yorick’s character, less comprehensible, less capable -of translation into tangibilities, was not disregarded. His humor and -whimsicality, though much less potent, were yet influential. Ramler said -in a letter to Gebler dated November 14, 1775, that everyone wished to -jest like Sterne,[21] and the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ (October -31, 1775), at almost precisely the same time, discourses at some length -on the then prevailing epidemic of whimsicality, showing that -shallowness beheld in the then existing interest in humor a -justification for all sorts of eccentric behavior and inconsistent -wilfulness. - -Naturally Sterne’s influence in the world of letters may be traced most -obviously in the slavish imitation of his style, his sentiment, his -whims,--this phase represented in general by now forgotten triflers; but -it also enters into the thought of the great minds in the fatherland and -becomes interwoven with their culture. Their own expressions of -indebtedness are here often available in assigning a measure of -relationship. And finally along certain general lines the German Yorick -exercised an influence over the way men thought and wanted to think. - -The direct imitations of Sterne are very numerous, a crowd of followers, -a motley procession of would-be Yoricks, set out on one expedition or -another. Musäus[22] in a review of certain sentimental meanderings in -the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[23] remarked that the increase of -such journeyings threatened to bring about a new epoch in the taste of -the time. He adds that the good Yorick presumably never anticipated -becoming the founder of a fashionable sect. This was in 1773. Other -expressions of alarm or disapprobation might be cited. - -Through Sterne’s influence the account of travels became more personal, -less purely topographical, more volatile and merry, more subjective.[24] -Goethe in a passage in the “Campagne in Frankreich,” to which reference -is made later, acknowledges this impulse as derived from Yorick. Its -presence was felt even when there was no outward effort at sentimental -journeying. The suggestion that the record of a journey was personal and -tinged with humor was essential to its popularity. It was probably -purely an effort to make use of this appeal which led the author of -“Bemerkungen eines Reisenden durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England und -Holland,”[25] a work of purely practical observation, to place upon his -title-page the alluring lines from Gay: “Life is a jest and all things -shew it. I thought so once, but now I know it;” a promise of humorous -attitude which does not find fulfilment in the heavy volumes of purely -objective description which follow. - -Probably the first German book to bear the name Yorick in its title was -a short satirical sketch entitled, “Yorick und die Bibliothek der -elenden Scribenten, an Hrn.--” 1768, 8vo (Anspach),[26] which is linked -to the quite disgustingly scurrilous Antikriticus controversy. - -Attempts at whimsicality, imitations also of the Shandean gallery of -originals appear, and the more particularly Shandean style of narration -is adopted in the novels of the period which deal with middle-class -domestic life. Of books directly inspired by Sterne, or following more -or less slavishly his guidance, a considerable proportion has -undoubtedly been consigned to merited oblivion. In many cases it is -possible to determine from contemporary reviews the nature of the -individual product, and the probable extent of indebtedness to the -British model. If it were possible to find and examine them all with a -view to establishing extent of relationship, the identity of motifs, -the borrowing of thought and sentiment, such a work would give us little -more than we learn from consideration of representative examples. In the -following chapter the attempt will be made to treat a number of typical -products. Baker in his article on Sterne in Germany adopts the rather -hazardous expedient of judging merely by title and taking from Goedeke’s -“Grundriss,” works which suggests a dependence on Sterne.[27] - -The early relation of several great men of letters to Sterne has been -already treated in connection with the gradual awakening of Germany to -the new force. Wieland was one of Sterne’s most ardent admirers, one of -his most intelligent interpreters; but since his relationship to Sterne -has been made the theme of special study,[28] there will be needed here -but a brief recapitulation with some additional comment. Especially in -the productions of the years 1768-1774 are the direct allusions to -Sterne and his works numerous, the adaptations of motifs frequent, and -imitation of literary style unmistakable. Behmer finds no demonstrable -evidence of Sterne’s influence in Wieland’s work prior to two poems of -the year 1768, “Endymions Traum” and “Chloe;” but in the works of the -years immediately following there is abundant evidence both in style and -in subject matter, in the fund of allusion and illustration, to -establish the author’s indebtedness to Sterne. Behmer analyzes from this -standpoint the following works: “Beiträge zur geheimen Geschichte des -menschlichen Verstandes und Herzens;” “Sokrates Mainomenos oder die -Dialogen des Diogenes von Sinope;” “Der neue Amadis;” “Der goldene -Spiegel;” “Geschichte des Philosophen Danischmende;” “Gedanken über eine -alte Aufschrift;” “Geschichte der Abderiten.”[29] - -In these works, but in different measure in each, Behmer finds Sterne -copied stylistically, in the constant conversations about the worth of -the book, the comparative value of the different chapters and the -difficulty of managing the material, in the fashion of inconsequence in -unexplained beginnings and abrupt endings, in the heaping up of words of -similar meaning, or similar ending, and in the frequent digressions. -Sterne also is held responsible for the manner of introducing the -immorally suggestive, for the introduction of learned quotations and -references to authorities, for the sport made of the learned professions -and the satire upon all kinds of pedantry and overwrought enthusiasm. -Though the direct, demonstrable influence of Sterne upon Wieland’s -literary activity dies out gradually[30] and naturally, with the growth -of his own genius, his admiration for the English favorite abides with -him, passing on into succeeding periods of his development, as his -former enthusiasm for Richardson failed to do.[31] More than twenty -years later, when more sober days had stilled the first unbridled -outburst of sentimentalism, Wieland speaks yet of Sterne in terms of -unaltered devotion: in an article published in the _Merkur_,[32] Sterne -is called among all authors the one “from whom I would last part,”[33] -and the subject of the article itself is an indication of his concern -for the fate of Yorick among his fellow-countrymen. It is in the form of -an epistle to Herr . . . . zu D., and is a vigorous protest against -heedless imitation of Sterne, representing chiefly the perils of such -endeavor and the bathos of the failure. Wieland includes in the letter -some “specimen passages from a novel in the style of Tristram Shandy,” -which he asserts were sent him by the author. The quotations are almost -flat burlesque in their impossible idiocy, and one can easily appreciate -Wieland’s despairing cry with which the article ends. - -A few words of comment upon Behmer’s work will be in place. He accepts -as genuine the two added volumes of the Sentimental Journey and the -Koran, though he admits that the former were published by a friend, not -“without additions of his own,” and he uses these volumes directly at -least in one instance in establishing his parallels, the rescue of the -naked woman from the fire in the third volume of the Journey, and the -similar rescue from the waters in the “Nachlass des Diogenes.”[34] That -Sterne had any connection with these volumes is improbable, and the -Koran is surely a pure fabrication. Behmer seeks in a few words to deny -the reproach cast upon Sterne that he had no understanding of the -beauties of nature, but Behmer is certainly claiming too much when he -speaks of the “Farbenprächtige Schilderungen der ihm ungewohnten -sonnenverklärten Landschaft,” which Sterne gives us “repeatedly” in the -Sentimental Journey, and he finds his most secure evidence for Yorick’s -“genuine and pure” feeling for nature in the oft-quoted passage -beginning, “I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba and cry -‘’Tis all barren.’” It would surely be difficult to find these repeated -instances, for, in the whole work, Sterne gives absolutely no -description of natural scenery beyond the most casual, incidental -reference: the familiar passage is also misinterpreted, it betrays no -appreciation of inanimate nature in itself, and is but a cry in -condemnation of those who fail to find exercise for their sympathetic -emotions. Sterne mentions the “sweet myrtle” and “melancholy -cypress,”[35] not as indicative of his own affection for nature, but as -exemplifying his own exceeding personal need of expenditure of human -sympathy, as indeed the very limit to which sensibility can go, when the -desert denies possibility of human intercourse. Sterne’s attitude is -much better illustrated at the beginning of the “Road to Versailles”: -“As there was nothing in this road, or rather nothing which I look for -in traveling, I cannot fill up the blank better than with a short -history of this self-same bird.” In other words, he met no possibility -for exercising the emotions. Behmer’s statement with reference to -Sterne, “that his authorship proceeds anyway from a parody of -Richardson,” is surely not demonstrable, nor that “this whole fashion of -composition is indeed but ridicule of Richardson.” Richardson’s star had -paled perceptibly before Sterne began to write, and the period of his -immense popularity lies nearly twenty years before. There is not the -slightest reason to suppose that his works have any connection -whatsoever with Richardson’s novels. One is tempted to think that Behmer -confuses Sterne with Fielding, whose career as a novelist did begin as a -parodist of the vain little printer. That the “Starling” in the -Sentimental Journey, which is passed on from hand to hand, and the -burden of government which wanders similarly in “Der Goldene Spiegel” -constitute a parallelism, as Behmer suggests (p. 48), seems rather -far-fetched. It could also be hardly demonstrated that what Behmer calls -“die Sternische Einführungsweise”[36] (p. 54), as used in the -“Geschichte der Abderiten,” is peculiar to Sterne or even characteristic -of him. Behmer (p. 19) seems to be ignorant of any reprints or -translations of the Koran, the letters and the sermons, save those -coming from Switzerland. - -Bauer’s study of the Sterne-Wieland relation is much briefer -(thirty-five pages) and much less satisfactory because less thorough, -yet it contains some few valuable individual points and cited -parallelisms. Bauer errs in stating that Shandy appeared 1759-67 in -York, implying that the whole work was issued there. He gives the dates -of Sterne’s first visit to Paris, also incorrectly, as 1760-62. - -Finally, Wieland cannot be classed among the slavish imitators of -Yorick; he is too independent a thinker, too insistent a pedagogue to -allow himself to be led more than outwardly by the foreign model. He has -something of his own to say and is genuinely serious in a large portion -of his own philosophic speculations: hence, his connection with Sterne, -being largely stylistic and illustrative, may be designated as a drapery -of foreign humor about his own seriousness of theorizing. Wieland’s -Hellenic tendencies make the use of British humor all the more -incongruous.[37] - -Herder’s early acquaintance with Sterne has been already treated. -Subsequent writings offer also occasional indication of an abiding -admiration. Soon after his arrival in Paris he wrote to Hartknoch -praising Sterne’s characterization of the French people.[38] The fifth -“Wäldchen,” which is concerned with the laughable, contains reference to -Sterne.[39] - -With Lessing the case is similar: a striking statement of personal -regard has been recorded, but Lessing’s literary work of the following -years does not betray a significant influence from Yorick. To be sure, -allusion is made to Sterne a few times in letters[40] and elsewhere, -but no direct manifestation of devotion is discoverable. The compelling -consciousness of his own message, his vigorous interest in deeper -problems of religion and philosophy, the then increasing worth of native -German literature, may well have overshadowed the influence of the -volatile Briton. - -Goethe’s expressions of admiration for Sterne and indebtedness to him -are familiar. Near the end of his life (December 16, 1828), when the -poet was interested in observing the history and sources of his own -culture, and was intent upon recording his own experience for the -edification and clarification of the people, he says in conversation -with Eckermann: “I am infinitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne and -Goldsmith.”[41] And a year later in a letter to Zelter,[42] (Weimar, -December 25, 1829), “The influence Goldsmith and Sterne exercised upon -me, just at the chief point of my development, cannot be estimated. This -high, benevolent irony, this just and comprehensive way of viewing -things, this gentleness to all opposition, this equanimity under every -change, and whatever else all the kindred virtues may be termed--such -things were a most admirable training for me, and surely, these are the -sentiments which in the end lead us back from all the mistaken paths of -life.” - -In the same conversation with Eckermann from which the first quotation -is made, Goethe seems to defy the investigator who would endeavor to -define his indebtedness to Sterne, its nature and its measure. The -occasion was an attempt on the part of certain writers to determine the -authorship of certain distichs printed in both Schiller’s and Goethe’s -works. Upon a remark of Eckermann’s that this effort to hunt down a -man’s originality and to trace sources is very common in the literary -world, Goethe says: “Das ist sehr lächerlich, man könnte ebenso gut -einen wohlgenährten Mann nach den Ochsen, Schafen und Schweinen fragen, -die er gegessen und die ihm Kräfte gegeben.” An investigation such as -Goethe seems to warn us against here would be one of tremendous -difficulty, a theme for a separate work. It is purposed here to gather -only information with reference to Goethe’s expressed or implied -attitude toward Sterne, his opinion of the British master, and to note -certain connections between Goethe’s work and that of Sterne, -connections which are obvious or have been already a matter of comment -and discussion. - -In Strassburg under Herder’s[43] guidance, Goethe seems first to have -read the works of Sterne. His life in Frankfurt during the interval -between his two periods of university residence was not of a nature -calculated to increase his acquaintance with current literature, and his -studies did not lead to interest in literary novelty. This is his own -statement in “Dichtung und Wahrheit.”[44] That Herder’s enthusiasm for -Sterne was generous has already been shown by letters written in the few -years previous to his sojourn in Strassburg. Letters written to -Merck[45] (Strassburg, 1770-1771) would seem to show that then too -Sterne still stood high in his esteem. Whatever the exact time of -Goethe’s first acquaintance with Sterne, we know that he recommended the -British writer to Jung-Stilling for the latter’s cultivation in -letters.[46] Less than a year after Goethe’s departure from Strassburg, -we find him reading aloud to the Darmstadt circle the story of poor Le -Fevre from Tristram Shandy. This is reported in a letter, dated May 8, -1772, by Caroline Flachsland, Herder’s fiancée.[47] It is not evident -whether they read Sterne in the original or in the translation of -Zückert, the only one then available, unless possibly the reader gave a -translation as he read. Later in the same letter, Caroline mentions the -“Empfindsame Reisen,” possibly meaning Bode’s translation. She also -records reading Shakespeare in Wieland’s rendering, but as she speaks -later still of peeping into the English books which Herder had sent -Merck, it is a hazardous thing to reason from her mastery of English at -that time to the use of original or translation on the occasion of -Goethe’s reading. - -Contemporary criticism saw in the Martin of “Götz von Berlichingen” -a likeness to Sterne’s creations;[48] and in the other great work of the -pre-Weimarian period, in “Werther,” though no direct influence rewards -one’s search, one must acknowledge the presence of a mental and -emotional state to which Sterne was a contributor. Indeed Goethe himself -suggests this relationship. Speaking of “Werther” in the “Campagne in -Frankreich,”[49] he observes in a well-known passage that Werther did -not cause the disease, only exposed it, and that Yorick shared in -preparing the ground-work of sentimentalism on which “Werther” is built. - -According to the quarto edition of 1837, the first series of letters -from Switzerland dates from 1775, although they were not published till -1808, in the eleventh volume of the edition begun in 1806. Scherer, -in his “History of German Literature,” asserts that these letters are -written in imitation of Sterne, but it is difficult to see the occasion -for such a statement. The letters are, in spite of all haziness -concerning the time of their origin and Goethe’s exact purpose regarding -them,[50] a “fragment of Werther’s travels” and are confessedly cast in -a sentimental tone, which one might easily attribute to a Werther, -in whom hyperesthesia has not yet developed to delirium, an earlier -Werther. Yorick’s whim and sentiment are quite wanting, and the -sensuousness, especially as pertains to corporeal beauty, is distinctly -Goethean. - -Goethe’s accounts of his own travels are quite free from the Sterne -flavor; in fact he distinctly says that through the influence of the -Sentimental Journey all records of journeys had been mostly given up to -the feelings and opinions of the traveler, but that he, after his -Italian journey, had endeavored to keep himself objective.[51] - -Dr. Robert Riemann in his study of Goethe’s novels,[52] calls Friedrich -in “Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre” a representative of Sterne’s humor, and -he finds in Mittler in the “Wahlverwandtschaften” a union of seriousness -and the comic of caricature, reminiscent of Sterne and Hippel. Friedrich -is mercurial, petulant, utterly irresponsible, a creature of mirth and -laughter, subject to unreasoning fits of passion. One might, in thinking -of another character in fiction, designate Friedrich as faun-like. In -all of this one can, however, find little if any demonstrable likeness -to Sterne or Sterne’s creations. It is rather difficult also to see -wherein the character of Mittler is reminiscent of Sterne. Mittler is -introduced with the obvious purpose of representing certain opinions and -of aiding the development of the story by his insistence upon them. He -represents a brusque, practical kind of benevolence, and his -eccentricity lies only in the extraordinary occupation which he has -chosen for himself. Riemann also traces to Sterne, Fielding and their -German followers, Goethe’s occasional use of the direct appeal to the -reader. Doubtless Sterne’s example here was a force in extending this -rhetorical convention. - -It is claimed by Goebel[53] that Goethe’s “Homunculus,” suggested to the -master partly by reading of Paracelsus and partly by Sterne’s mediation, -is in some characteristics of his being dependent directly on Sterne’s -creation. In a meeting of the “Gesellschaft für deutsche Litteratur,” -November, 1896, Brandl expressed the opinion that Maria of Moulines was -a prototype of Mignon in “Wilhelm Meister.”[54] - -The references to Sterne in Goethe’s works, in his letters and -conversations, are fairly numerous in the aggregate, but not especially -striking relatively. In the conversations with Eckermann there are -several other allusions besides those already mentioned. Goethe calls -Eckermann a second Shandy for suffering illness without calling a -physician, even as Walter Shandy failed to attend to the squeaking -door-hinge.[55] Eckermann himself draws on Sterne for illustrations in -Yorick’s description of Paris,[56] and on January 24, 1830, at a time -when we know that Goethe was re-reading Sterne, Eckermann refers to -Yorick’s (?) doctrine of the reasonable use of grief.[57] That Goethe -near the end of his life turned again to Sterne’s masterpiece is proved -by a letter to Zelter, October 5, 1830;[58] he adds here too that his -admiration has increased with the years, speaking particularly of -Sterne’s gay arraignment of pedantry and philistinism. But a few days -before this, October 1, 1830, in a conversation reported by Riemer,[59] -he expresses the same opinion and adds that Sterne was the first to -raise himself and us from pedantry and philistinism. By these remarks -Goethe commits himself in at least one respect to a favorable view of -Sterne’s influence on German letters. A few other minor allusions to -Sterne may be of interest. In an article in the _Horen_ (1795, -V. Stück,) entitled “Literarischer Sansculottismus,” Goethe mentions -Smelfungus as a type of growler.[60] In the “Wanderjahre”[61] there is a -reference to Yorick’s classification of travelers. Düntzer, in Schnorr’s -_Archiv_,[62] explains a passage in a letter of Goethe’s to Johanna -Fahlmer (August, 1775), “die Verworrenheiten des Diego und Juliens” as -an allusion to the “Intricacies of Diego and Julia” in Slawkenbergius’s -tale,[63] and to the traveler’s conversation with his beast. In a letter -to Frau von Stein[64] five years later (September 18, 1780) Goethe used -this same expression, and the editor of the letters avails himself of -Düntzer’s explanation. Düntzer further explains the word θεοδοκος, -used in Goethe’s Tagebuch with reference to the Duke, in connection with -the term θεοδιδακτος applied to Walter Shandy. The word is, however, -somewhat illegible in the manuscript. It was printed thus in the edition -of the Tagebuch published by Robert Keil, but when Düntzer himself, nine -years after the article in the _Archiv_, published an edition of the -Tagebücher he accepted a reading θεοτατος,[65] meaning, as he says, “ein -voller Gott,” thereby tacitly retracting his former theory of connection -with Sterne. - -The best known relationship between Goethe and Sterne is in connection -with the so-called plagiarisms in the appendix to the third volume of -the “Wanderjahre.” Here, in the second edition, were printed under the -title “Aus Makariens Archiv” various maxims and sentiments. Among these -were a number of sayings, reflections, axioms, which were later -discovered to have been taken bodily from the second part of the Koran, -the best known Sterne-forgery. Alfred Hédouin, in “Le Monde Maçonnique” -(1863), in an article “Goethe plagiaire de Sterne,” first located the -quotations.[66] - -Mention has already been made of the account of Robert Springer, which -is probably the last published essay on the subject. It is entitled “Ist -Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz Sternes?” and is found in the volume -“Essays zur Kritik und Philosophie und zur Goethe-Litteratur.”[67] -Springer cites at some length the liberal opinions of Molière, La -Bruyère, Wieland, Heine and others concerning the literary appropriation -of another’s thought. He then proceeds to quote Goethe’s equally -generous views on the subject, and adds the uncritical fling that if -Goethe robbed Sterne, it was an honor to Sterne, a gain to his literary -fame. Near the end of his paper, Springer arrives at the question in -hand and states positively that these maxims, with their miscellaneous -companions, were never published by Goethe, but were found by the -editors of his literary remains among his miscellaneous papers, and then -issued in the ninth volume of the posthumous works. Hédouin had -suggested this possible explanation. Springer adds that the editors were -unaware of the source of this material and supposed it to be original -with Goethe. - -The facts of the case are, however, as follows: “Wilhelm Meister’s -Wanderjahre” was published first in 1821.[68] In 1829, a new and revised -edition was issued in the “Ausgabe letzter Hand.” Eckermann in his -conversations with Goethe[69] relates the circumstances under which the -appendices were added to the earlier work. When the book was in press, -the publisher discovered that of the three volumes planned, the last two -were going to be too thin, and begged for more material to fill out -their scantiness. In this perplexity Goethe brought to Eckermann two -packets of miscellaneous notes to be edited and added to those two -slender volumes. In this way arose the collection of sayings, scraps and -quotations “Im Sinne der Wanderer” and “Aus Makariens Archiv.” It was -later agreed that Eckermann, when Goethe’s literary remains should be -published, should place the matter elsewhere, ordered into logical -divisions of thought. All of the sentences here under special -consideration were published in the twenty-third volume of the “Ausgabe -letzter Hand,” which is dated 1830,[70] and are to be found there, on -pages 271-275 and 278-281. They are reprinted in the identical order in -the ninth volume of the “Nachgelassene Werke,” which also bore the -title, Vol. XLIX of “Ausgabe letzter Hand,” there found on pages 121-125 -and 127-131. Evidently Springer found them here in the posthumous works, -and did not look for them in the previous volume, which was published -two years or thereabouts before Goethe’s death. - -Of the sentiments, sentences and quotations dealing with Sterne, there -are twenty which are translations from the Koran, in Loeper’s edition of -“Sprüche in Prosa,”[71] Nos. 491-507 and 543-544; seventeen others (Nos. -490, 508-509, 521-533, 535) contain direct appreciative criticism of -Sterne; No. 538 is a comment upon a Latin quotation in the Koran and No. -545 is a translation of another quotation in the same work. No. 532 -gives a quotation from Sterne, “Ich habe mein Elend nicht wie ein weiser -Mann benutzt,” which Loeper says he has been unable to find in any of -Sterne’s works. It is, however, in a letter[72] to John Hall Stevenson, -written probably in August, 1761. The translation here is inexact. -Loeper did not succeed in finding Nos. 534, 536, 537, although their -position indicates that they were quotations from Sterne, but No. 534 is -in a letter to Garrick from Paris, March 19, 1762. The German -translation however conveys a different impression from the original -English. The other two are not located; in spite of their position, the -way in which the book was put together would certainly allow for the -possibility of extraneous material creeping in. At their first -appearance in the “Ausgabe letzter Hand,” five Sprüche, Nos. 491, 543, -534, 536, 537, were supplied with quotation marks, though the source was -not indicated. Thus it is seen that the most of the quotations were -published as original during Goethe’s lifetime, but he probably never -considered it of sufficient consequence to disavow their authorship in -public. It is quite possible that the way in which they were forced into -“Wilhelm Meister” was distasteful to him afterwards, and he did not care -to call attention to them. - -Goethe’s opinion of Sterne as expressed in the sentiments which -accompany the quotations from the Koran is significant. “Yorick Sterne,” -he says, “war der schönste Geist, der je gewirkt hat; wer ihn liest, -fühlet sich sogleich frei und schön; sein Humor ist unnachahmlich, und -nicht jeder Humor befreit die Seele” (490). “Sagacität und Penetration -sind bei ihm grenzenlos” (528). Goethe asserts here that every person of -culture should at that very time read Sterne’s works, so that the -nineteenth century might learn “what we owed him and perceive what we -might owe him.” Goethe took Sterne’s narrative of his journey as a -representation of an actual trip, or else he is speaking of Sterne’s -letters in the following: - -“Seine Heiterkeit, Genügsamkeit, Duldsamkeit auf der Reise, wo diese -Eigenschaften am meisten geprüft werden, finden nicht leicht -Ihresgleichen” (No. 529), and Goethe’s opinion of Sterne’s indecency is -characteristic of Goethe’s attitude. He says: “Das Element der -Lüsternheit, in dem er sich so zierlich und sinnig benimmt, würde vielen -Andern zum Verderben gereichen.” - -The juxtaposition of these quotations and this appreciation of Sterne is -proof sufficient that Goethe considered Sterne the author of the Koran -at the time when the notes were made. At precisely what time this -occurred it is now impossible to determine, but the drift of the -comment, combined with our knowledge from sources already mentioned, -that Goethe turned again to Sterne in the latter years of his life, -would indicate that the quotations were made in the latter part of the -twenties, and that the re-reading of Sterne included the Koran. Since -the translations which Goethe gives are not identical with those in the -rendering ascribed to Bode (1778), Loeper suggests Goethe himself as the -translator of the individual quotations. Loeper is ignorant of the -earlier translation of Gellius, which Goethe may have used.[73] - -There is yet another possibility of connection between Goethe and the -Koran. This work contained the story of the Graf von Gleichen, which is -acknowledged to have been a precursor of Goethe’s “Stella.” Düntzer in -his “Erläuterungen zu den deutschen Klassikern” says it is impossible to -determine whence Goethe took the story for “Stella.” He mentions that it -was contained in Bayle’s Dictionary, which is known to have been in -Goethe’s father’s library, and two other books, both dating from the -sixteenth century, are noted as possible sources. It seems rather more -probable that Goethe found the story in the Koran, which was published -but a few years before “Stella” was written and translated but a year -later, 1771, that is, but four years, or even less, before the -appearance of “Stella” (1775).[74] - -Precisely in the spirit of the opinions quoted above is the little -essay[75] on Sterne which was published in the sixth volume of “Ueber -Kunst und Alterthum,” in which Goethe designates Sterne as a man “who -first stimulated and propagated the great epoch of purer knowledge of -humanity, noble toleration and tender love, in the second half of the -last century.” Goethe further calls attenion to Sterne’s disclosure of -human peculiarities (Eigenheiten), and the importance and interest of -these native, governing idiosyncrasies. - -These are, in general, superficial relationships. A thorough -consideration of these problems, especially as concerns the cultural -indebtedness of Goethe to the English master would be a task demanding a -separate work. Goethe was an assimilator and summed up in himself the -spirit of a century, the attitude of predecessors and contemporaries. - -C. F. D. Schubart wrote a poem entitled “Yorick,”[76] beginning - - “Als Yorik starb, da flog - Sein Seelchen auf den Himmel - So leicht wie ein Seufzerchen.” - -The angels ask him for news of earth, and the greater part of the poem -is occupied with his account of human fate. The relation is quite -characteristic of Schubart in its gruesomeness, its insistence upon -all-surrounding death and dissolution; but it contains no suggestion of -Sterne’s manner, or point of view. The only explanation of association -between the poem and its title is that Schubart shared the one-sided -German estimate of Sterne’s character and hence represented him as a -sympathetic messenger bringing to heaven on his death some tidings of -human weakness. - -In certain other manifestations, relatively subordinate, the German -literature of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the -beginning of the nineteenth and the life embodied therein are different -from what they would have been had it not been for Sterne’s example. -Some of these secondary fruits of the Sterne cult have been mentioned -incidentally and exemplified in the foregoing pages. It would perhaps be -conducive to definiteness to gather them here. - -Sterne’s incontinuity of narration, the purposeful irrelation of parts, -the use of anecdote and episode, which to the stumbling reader reduce -his books to collections of disconnected essays and instances, gave to -German mediocrity a sanction to publish a mass of multifarious, -unrelated, and nondescript thought and incident. It is to be noted that -the spurious books such as the Koran, which Germany never clearly -sundered from the original, were direct examples in England of such -disjointed, patchwork books. Such a volume with a significant title is -“Mein Kontingent zur Modelectüre.”[77] Further, eccentricity in -typography, in outward form, may be largely attributed to Sterne’s -influence, although in individual cases no direct connection is -traceable. Thus, to the vagaries of Shandy is due probably the license -of the author of “Karl Blumenberg, eine tragisch-komische -Geschichte,”[78] who fills half pages with dashes and whole lines with -“Ha! Ha!” - -As has been suggested already, Sterne’s example was potent in fostering -the use of such stylistic peculiarities, as the direct appeal to, and -conversation with the reader about the work, and its progress, and the -various features of the situation. It was in use by Sterne’s -predecessors in England and by their followers in Germany, before Sterne -can be said to have exercised any influence; for example, Hermes uses -the device constantly in “Miss Fanny Wilkes,” but Sterne undoubtedly -contributed largely to its popularity. One may perhaps trace to Sterne’s -blank pages and similar vagaries the eccentricity of the author of -“Ueber die Moralische Schönheit und Philosophie des Lebens,”[79] whose -eighth chapter is titled “Vom Stolz, eine Erzählung,” this title -occupying one page; the next page (210) is blank; the following page is -adorned with an urnlike decoration beneath which we read, “Es war einmal -ein Priester.” These three pages complete the chapter. The author of -“Dorset und Julie” (Leipzig, 1773-4) is also guilty of similar Yorickian -follies.[80] - -Sterne’s ideas found approbation and currency apart from his general -message of the sentimental and humorous attitude toward the world and -its course. For example, the hobby-horse theory was warmly received, and -it became a permanent figure in Germany, often, and especially at first, -with playful reminder of Yorick’s use of the term.[81] Yorick’s -mock-scientific division of travelers seems to have met with especial -approval, and evidently became a part of conversational, and epistolary -commonplace allusion. Goethe in a letter to Marianne Willemer, November -9, 1830,[82] with direct reference to Sterne proposes for his son, then -traveling in Italy, the additional designation of the “bold” or -“complete” traveler. Carl August in a letter to Knebel,[83] dated -December 26, 1785, makes quite extended allusion to the classification. -Lessing writes to Mendelssohn December 12, 1780: “The traveler whom you -sent to me a while ago was an inquisitive traveler. The one with whom I -now answer is an emigrating one.” The passage which follows is an -apology for thus adding to Yorick’s list. The two travelers were -respectively one Fliess and Alexander Daveson.[84] Nicolai makes similar -allusion to the “curious” traveler of Sterne’s classification near the -beginning of his “Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die -Schweiz im Jahre 1781.”[85] - -Further search would increase the number of such allusions indefinitely. -A few will be mentioned in the following chapter. - -One of Walter Shandy’s favorite contentions was the fortuitous -dependence of great events upon insignificant details. In his -philosophy, trifles were the determining factors of existence. The -adoption of this theory in Germany, as a principle in developing events -or character in fiction, is unquestionable in Wezel’s “Tobias Knaut,” -and elsewhere. The narrative, “Die Grosse Begebenheit aus kleinen -Ursachen” in the second volume of the _Erholungen_,[86] represents a -wholesale appropriation of the idea,--to be sure not new in Shandy, but -most strikingly exemplified there. - -In “Sebaldus Nothanker” the Revelation of St. John is a Sterne-like -hobby-horse and is so regarded by a reviewer in the _Magazin der -deutschen Critik_.[87] Schottenius in Knigge’s “Reise nach Braunschweig” -rides his hobby in the shape of his fifty-seven sermons.[88] Lessing -uses the Steckenpferd in a letter to Mendelssohn, November 5, 1768 -(Lachmann edition, XII, p. 212), and numerous other examples of direct -or indirect allusion might be cited. Sterne’s worn-out coin was a simile -adopted and felt to be pointed.[89] - -Jacob Minor in a suggestive article in _Euphorion_,[90] entitled -“Wahrheit und Lüge auf dem Theater und in der Literatur,” expressed the -opinion that Sterne was instrumental in sharpening powers of observation -with reference to self-deception in little things, to all the deceiving -impulses of the human soul. It is held that through Sterne’s inspiration -Wieland and Goethe were rendered zealous to combat false ideals and -life-lies in greater things. It is maintained that Tieck also was -schooled in Sterne, and, by means of powers of observation sharpened in -this way, was enabled to portray the conscious or unconscious life-lie. - - [Footnote 1: A writer in the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1775 - (II, 787 ff.), asserts that Sterne’s works are the favorite - reading of the German nation.] - - [Footnote 2: A further illustration may be found in the following - discourse: “Von einigen Hindernissen des akademischen Fleisses. - Eine Rede bey dem Anfange der öffentlichen Vorlesungen gehalten,” - von J. C. C. Ferber, Professor zu Helmstädt (1773, 8vo), reviewed - in _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, III, St. I., pp. 261 ff. This - academic guide of youth speaks of Sterne in the following words: - “Wie tief dringt dieser Philosoph in die verborgensten Gänge des - menschlichen Herzens, wie richtig entdeckt er die geheimsten - Federn der Handlungen, wie entlarvt, wie verabscheuungsvoll steht - vor ihm das Laster, wie liebenswürdig die Tugend! wie interessant - sind seine Schilderungen, wie eindringend seine Lehren! und woher - diese grosse Kenntniss des Menschen, woher diese getreue - Bezeichnung der Natur, diese sanften Empfindungen, die seine - geistvolle Sprache hervorbringt? Dieser Saame der Tugend, den er - mit wohlthätiger Hand ausstreuet?” Yorick held up to college or - university students as a champion of virtue is certainly an - extraordinary spectacle. A critic in the _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, - August 18, 1772, in criticising the make-up of a so-called - “Landbibliothek,” recommends books “die geschickt sind, die guten - einfältigen, ungekünstelten Empfindungen reiner Seelen zu - unterhalten, einen Yorick vor allen . . . .” The long article on - Sterne’s character in the _Götting. Mag._, I, pp. 84-92, 1780, - “Etwas über Sterne: Schreiben an Prof. Lichtenberg” undoubtedly - helped to establish this opinion of Sterne authoritatively. In it - Sterne’s weaknesses are acknowledged, but the tendency is to - emphasize the tender, sympathetic side of his character. The - conception of Yorick there presented is quite different from the - one held by Lichtenberg himself.] - - [Footnote 3: The story of the “Lorenzodosen” is given quite fully - in Longo’s monograph, “Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi” - (Wien, 1898, pp. 39-44), and the sketch given here is based upon - his investigation, with consultation of the sources there cited. - Nothing new is likely to be added to his account, but because of - its important illustrative bearing on the whole story of Sterne in - Germany, a fairly complete account is given here. Longo refers to - the following as literature on the subject: - - Martin, in _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, p. 10, p. 27, - Anmerk. 24. - - Wittenberg’s letter in _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, pp. 52-53. - - K. M. Werner, in article on Ludw. Philipp Hahn in the same - series, XXII, pp. 127 ff. - - Appell: “Werther und seine Zeit,” Leipzig, 1855, p. 168. - (Oldenburg, 1896, p. 246-250). - - Schlichtegroll: “Nekrolog von 1792,” II, pp. 37 ff. - - Klotz: _Bibliothek_, V, p. 285. - - Jacobi’s Werke, 1770, I, pp. 127 ff. - - _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XIX, 2, p. 174; XII, 2, p. 279. - - Julian Schmidt: “Aus der Zeit der Lorenzodosen,” _Westermann’s - Monatshefte_, XLIX, pp. 479 ff. - - The last article is popular and only valuable in giving letters - of Wieland and others which display the emotional currents of the - time. It has very little to do with the Lorenzodosen.] - - [Footnote 4: The letter is reprinted in Jacobi’s Works, 1770, I, - pp. 31 ff., and in an abridged form in the edition of 1807, I, pp. - 103 ff.; and in the edition of Zürich, 1825, I, pp. 270-275.] - - [Footnote 5: XI, 2, pp. 174-75.] - - [Footnote 6: _Quellen und Forschungen_, XXII, p. 127.] - - [Footnote 7: _Ibid._, II, pp. 52-53.] - - [Footnote 8: This was in a letter to Jacobi October 25, 1770, - though Appell gives the date 1775--evidently a misprint.] - - [Footnote 9: Review of “Trois lettres françoises par quelques - allemands,” Amsterdam (Berlin), 1769, 8vo, letters concerned with - Jacobi’s “Winterreise” and the snuff-boxes themselves.] - - [Footnote 10: XII, 2, p. 279.] - - [Footnote 11: Longo was unable to find one of these once so - popular snuff-boxes,--a rather remarkable fact. There is, however, - a picture of one at the end of the chapter “Yorick,” p. 15 in - Göchhausen’s M . . . . R . . . .,--a small oval box. Emil Kuh, in - his life of Fredrich Hebbel (1877, I, pp. 117-118) speaks of the - Lorenzodose as “dreieckig.” A chronicler in Schlichtegroll’s - “Nekrolog,” 1792, II, p. 51, also gives rumor of an order of - “Sanftmuth und Toleranz, der eine dreyeckigte Lorenzodose zum - Symbol führte.” The author here is unable to determine whether - this is a part of Jacobi’s impulse or the initiative of another.] - - [Footnote 12: Fourth Edition. Berlin and Stettin, 1779, III, - p. 99.] - - [Footnote 13: “Christopher Kaufmann, der Kraftapostel der - Geniezeit” von Heinrich Düntzer, _Historisches Taschenbuch_, - edited by Fr. v. Raumer, third series, tenth year, Leipzig, 1859, - pp. 109-231. Düntzer’s sources concerning Kaufmann’s life in - Strassburg are Schmohl’s “Urne Johann Jacob Mochels,” 1780, and - “Johann Jacob Mochel’s Reliquien verschiedener philosophischen - pädogogischen poetischen und andern Aufsätze,” 1780. These books - have unfortunately not been available for the present use.] - - [Footnote 14: For account of Leuchsenring see Varnhagen van Ense, - “Vermischte Schriften”, I. 492-532.] - - [Footnote 15: Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog,” 1792, II, pp. 37 ff. - There is also given here a quotation written after Sterne’s death, - which is of interest: - - “Wir erben, Yorick, deine Dose, - Auch deine Feder erben wir; - Doch wer erhielt im Erbschaftsloose - Dein Herz? O Yorick, nenn ihn mir!”] - - [Footnote 16: Works of Friedrich von Matthison, Zürich, 1825, III, - pp. 141 ff., in “Erinnerungen,” zweites Buch. The “Vaterländische - Besuche” were dated 1794.] - - [Footnote 17: Briefe von Friedrich Matthison, Zürich, 1795, I, pp. - 27-32.] - - [Footnote 18: Shandy, III, 22.] - - [Footnote 19: Briefe, II, p. 95.] - - [Footnote 20: “Herders Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut”, pp. 92, - 181, 187, 253, 377.] - - [Footnote 21: Quoted by Koberstein, IV, p. 168. Else, p. 31; - Hettner, III, 1, p. 362, quoted from letters in Friedrich - Schlegel’s _Deutsches Museum_, IV, p. 145. These letters are not - given by Goedeke.] - - [Footnote 22: The review is credited to him by Koberstein, III, - pp. 463-4.] - - [Footnote 23: XIX, 2, p. 579.] - - [Footnote 24: See “Bemerkungen oder Briefe über Wien, eines jungen - Bayern auf einer Reise durch Deutschland,” Leipzig (probably 1804 - or 1805). It is, according to the _Jenaische Allg. Litt. Zeitung_ - (1805, IV, p. 383), full of extravagant sentiment with frequent - apostrophe to the author’s “Evelina.” Also, “Meine Reise vom - Städtchen H . . . . zum Dörfchen H . . . .” Hannover, 1799. See - _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1799, IV, p. 87. “Reisen unter Sonne, Mond - und Sternen,” Erfurt, 1798, pp. 220, 8vo. This is evidently a - similar work, but is classed by _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_ (1799, - I, 477) as an imitation of Jean Paul, hence indirectly to be - connected with Yorick. “Reisen des grünen Mannes durch - Deutschland,” Halle, 1787-91. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1789, - I, 217; 1791, IV, p. 576. “Der Teufel auf Reisen,” two volumes, - Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1789. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1789, I, - p. 826. Knigge’s books of travels also share in this enlivening - and subjectivizing of the traveler’s narrative.] - - [Footnote 25: Altenburg, Richter, 1775, six volumes.] - - [Footnote 26: Reviewed in _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, X, 2, p. 127, - and _Neue Critische Nachrichten_, Greifswald V, p. 222.] - - [Footnote 27: Many of the anonymous books, even those popular in - their day, are not given by Goedeke; and Baker, judging only by - one external, naturally misses Sterne products which have no - distinctively imitative title, and includes others which have no - connection with Sterne. For example, he gives Gellius’s “Yoricks - Nachgelassene Werke,” which is but a translation of the Koran, - and hence in no way an example of German imitation; he gives also - Schummel’s “Fritzens Reise nach Dessau” (1776) and “Reise nach - Schlesien” (1792), Nonne’s “Amors Reisen nach Fockzana zum - Friedenscongress” (1773), none of which has anything to do with - Sterne. “Trim oder der Sieg der Liebe über die Philosophie” - (Leipzig, 1776), by Ludw. Ferd. v. Hopffgarten, also cited by - Baker, undoubtedly owes its name only to Sterne. See _Jenaische - Zeitungen von gel. Sachen_, 1777, p. 67, and _Allg. deutsche - Bibl._, XXXIV, 2, p. 484; similarly “Lottchens Reise ins - Zuchthaus” by Kirtsten, 1777, is given in Baker’s list, but the - work “Reise” is evidently used here only in a figurative sense, - the story being but the relation of character deterioration, - a downward journey toward the titular place of punishment. See - _Jenaische Zeitungen von gel. Sachen_, 1777, pp. 739 ff.; 1778, - p. 12. _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXV, 1, p. 182. Baker gives Bock’s - “Tagereise” and “Geschichte eines empfundenen Tages” as if they - were two different books. He further states: “Sterne is the parent - of a long list of German Sentimental Journeys which began with von - Thümmel’s ‘Reise in die mittäglichen Provinzen Frankreichs.’” This - work really belongs comparatively late in the story of imitations. - Two of Knigge’s books are also included. See p. 166-7.] - - [Footnote 28: “Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland, von Karl August - Behmer, Forschungen zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte IX. München, - 1899. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung fremder Einflüsse auf Wieland’s - Dichtung.” To this reference has been made. There is also another - briefer study of this connection: a Programm by F. Bauer, “Ueber - den Einfluss, Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. Wieland,” Karlsbad, - 1898. A. Mager published, 1890, at Marburg, “Wieland’s Nachlass - des Diogenes von Sinope und das englische Vorbild,” a school - “Abhandlung,” which dealt with a connection between this work of - Wieland and Sterne. Wood (“Einfluss Fieldings auf die deutsche - Litteratur,” Yokohama, 1895) finds constant imitation of Sterne in - “Don Silvio,” which, from Behmer’s proof concerning the dates of - Wieland’s acquaintance with Sterne, can hardly be possible.] - - [Footnote 29: Some other works are mentioned as containing - references and allusions.] - - [Footnote 30: In “Oberon” alone of Wieland’s later works does - Behmer discover Sterne’s influence and there no longer in the - style, but in the adaptation of motif.] - - [Footnote 31: See Erich Schmidt’s “Richardson, Rousseau und - Goethe,” Jena, 1875, pp. 46-7.] - - [Footnote 32: 1790, I, pp. 209-16.] - - [Footnote 33: This may be well compared with Wieland’s statements - concerning Shandy in his review of the Bode translation (_Merkur_, - VIII, pp. 247-51, 1774), which forms one of the most exaggerated - expressions of adoration in the whole epoch of Sterne’s - popularity.] - - [Footnote 34: Since Germany did not sharply separate the work of - Sterne from his continuator, this is, of course, to be classed - from the German point of view at that time as a borrowing from - Sterne. Mager in his study depends upon the Eugenius continuation - for this and several other parallels.] - - [Footnote 35: Sentimental Journey, pp. 31-32.] - - [Footnote 36: “Ich denke nicht, dass es Sie gereuen wird, den Mann - näher kennen zu lernen” spoken of Demokritus in “Die Abderiten;” - see _Merkur_, 1774, I, p. 56.] - - [Footnote 37: Wieland’s own genuine appreciation of Sterne and - understanding of his characteristics is indicated incidentally in - a review of a Swedish book in the _Teutscher Merkur_, 1782, II, - p. 192, in which he designates the description of sentimental - journeying in the seventh book of Shandy as the best of Sterne’s - accomplishment, as greater than the Journey itself, a judgment - emanating from a keen and true knowledge of Sterne.] - - [Footnote 38: Lebensbild, V, Erlangen, 1846, p. 89. Letter to - Hartknoch, Paris, November, 1769. In connection with his journey - and his “Reisejournal,” he speaks of his “Tristramschen - Meynungen.” See Lebensbild, Vol. V, p. 61.] - - [Footnote 39: Suphan, IV, p. 190. For further reference to Sterne - in Herder’s letters, see “Briefe Herders an Hamann,” edited by - Otto Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, pp. 28, 51, 57, 71, 78, 194.] - - [Footnote 40: Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840, XII, pp. 212, 240.] - - [Footnote 41: Eckermann: “Gespräche mit Goethe,” Leipzig, 1885, - II, p. 29; or Biedermann, “Goethe’s Gespräche,” Leipzig, 1890, - VI, p. 359.] - - [Footnote 42: “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter, in den - Jahren, 1796-1832.” Ed. by Fr. W. Riemer, Berlin, 1833-4, Vol. V, - p. 349. Both of these quotations are cited by Siegmund Levy, - “Goethe und Oliver Goldsmith;” Goethe-Jahrbuch, VI, 1885, pp. - 282 ff. The translation in this case is from that of A. D. - Coleridge.] - - [Footnote 43: Griesebach: “Das Goetheische Zeitalter der deutschen - Dichtung,” Leipzig, 1891, p. 29.] - - [Footnote 44: II, 10th book, Hempel, XXI, pp. 195 ff.] - - [Footnote 45: “Briefe an Joh. Heinrich Merck von Göthe, Herder, - Wieland und andern bedeutenden Zeitgenossen,” edited by Dr. Karl - Wagner, Darmstadt, 1835, p. 5; and “Briefe an und von Joh. - Heinrich Merck,” issued by the same editor, Darmstadt, 1838, - pp. 5, 21.] - - [Footnote 46: In the “Wanderschaft,” see J. H. Jung-Stilling, - Sämmtliche Werke. Stuttgart, 1835, I, p. 277.] - - [Footnote 47: “Herder’s Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut, April, - 1771, to April, 1773,” edited by Düntzer and F. G. von Herder, - Frankfurt-am-Main, 1858, pp. 247 ff.] - - [Footnote 48: See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1774, February 22.] - - [Footnote 49: Kürschner edition of Goethe, Vol. XXII, pp. 146-7.] - - [Footnote 50: See introduction by Dünster in the Kürschner - edition, XIII, pp. 137 ff., and that by Fr. Strehlke in the Hempel - edition, XVI. pp. 217 ff.] - - [Footnote 51: Kürschner edition, Vol. XXIV, p. 15; Tag- und - Jahreshefte, 1789.] - - [Footnote 52: “Goethe’s Romantechnik,” Leipzig, 1902. The author - here incidentally expresses the opinion that Heinse is also an - imitator of Sterne.] - - [Footnote 53: Julius Goebel, in “Goethe-Jahrbuch,” XXI, pp. - 208 ff.] - - [Footnote 54: See _Euphorion_, IV, p. 439.] - - [Footnote 55: Eckermann, III, p. 155; Biedermann, VI, p. 272.] - - [Footnote 56: Eckermann, III, p. 170; Biedermann, VI, p. 293.] - - [Footnote 57: Eckermann, II, p. 19; Biedermann, VII, p. 184. This - quotation is given in the Anhang to the “Wanderjahre.” Loeper says - (Hempel, XIX, p. 115) that he has been unable to find it anywhere - in Sterne; see p. 105.] - - [Footnote 58: See “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter.” - Zelter’s replies contain also reference to Sterne. VI, p. 33 he - speaks of the Sentimental Journey as “ein balsamischer - Frühlingsthau.” See also II, p. 51; VI, p. 207. Goethe is reported - as having spoken of the Sentimental Journey: “Man könne durchaus - nicht besser ausdrücken, wie des Menschen Herz ein trotzig und - verzagt Ding sei.”] - - [Footnote 59: “Mittheilungen über Goethe,” von F. W. Riemer, - Berlin, 1841, II, p. 658. Also, Biedermann, VII, p. 332.] - - [Footnote 60: See Hempel, XXIX, p. 240.] - - [Footnote 61: Kürschner, XVI, p. 372.] - - [Footnote 62: IX, p. 438.] - - [Footnote 63: See “Briefe von Goethe an Johanna Fahlmer,” edited - by L. Ulrichs, Leipzig, 1875, p. 91, and Shandy, II, pp. 70 - and 48.] - - [Footnote 64: “Goethe’s Briefe an Frau von Stein,” hrsg. von Adolf - Schöll; 2te Aufl, bearbeitet von W. Fielitz, Frankfurt-am-Main, - 1883, Vol. I, p. 276.] - - [Footnote 65: References to the Tagebücher are as follows: Robert - Keil’s Leipzig, 1875, p. 107, and Düntzer’s, Leipzig, 1889, - p. 73.] - - [Footnote 66: See also the same author’s “Goethe, sa vie et ses - oeuvres,” Paris, 1866; Appendice pp. 291-298. Further literature - is found: “Vergleichende Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung,” - 1863, No. 36, and 1869, Nos. 10 and 14. _Morgenblatt_, 1863, - Nr. 39, article by Alex. Büchner, Sterne’s “Coran und Makariens - Archiv, Goethe ein Plagiator?” and _Deutsches Museum_, 1867, - No. 690.] - - [Footnote 67: Minden i. W., 1885, pp. 330-336.] - - [Footnote 68: “Druck vollendet in Mai” according to Baumgartner, - III, p. 292.] - - [Footnote 69: II, pp. 230-233. May 15, 1831.] - - [Footnote 70: Goedeke gives Vol. XXIII, A. l. H. as 1829.] - - [Footnote 71: Hempel, XIX, “Sprüche in Prosa,” edited by G. von - Loeper, Maximen und Reflexionen; pp. 106-111 and 113-117.] - - [Footnote 72: Letters, I, p. 54.] - - [Footnote 73: This seems very odd in view of the fact that in - Loeper’s edition of “Dichtung und Wahrheit” (Hempel, XXII, p. 264) - Gellius is referred to as “the translator of Lillo and Sterne.” It - must be that Loeper did not know that Gellius’s “Yorick’s - Nachgelassene Werke” was a translation of the Koran.] - - [Footnote 74: The problem involved in the story of Count Gleichen - was especially sympathetic to the feeling of the eighteenth - century. See a series of articles by Fr. Heibig in _Magazin für - Litteratur des In- und Auslandes_, Vol. 60, pp. 102-5; 120-2; - 136-9. “Zur Geschichte des Problems des Grafen von Gleichen.”] - - [Footnote 75: Weimar edition, Vol. XLI, 2, pp. 252-253.] - - [Footnote 76: Gesammelte Schriften, Stuttgart, 1839, IV, pp. - 272-3.] - - [Footnote 77: Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1775. See _Gothaische Gel. - Zeitungen_, 1776, I, pp. 208-9, and _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, - XXXII, 1, p. 139. _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_, - September 27, 1776. This does not imply that Sterne was in this - respect an innovator; such books were printed before Sterne’s - influence was felt, _e.g._, _Magazin von Einfällen_, Breslau, 1763 - (?), reviewed in _Leipziger Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, - February 20, 1764. See also “Reisen im Vaterlande,--Kein Roman - aber ziemlich theatralisch-politisch und satyrischen Inhalts,” two - volumes; Königsberg and Leipzig, 1793-4, reviewed in _Allg. Litt. - Zeitung_, 1795, III, p. 30. “Der Tändler, oder Streifereyen in die - Wildnisse der Einbildungskraft, in die Werke der Natur und - menschlichen Sitten,” Leipzig, 1778 (?), (_Almanach der deutschen - Musen_, 1779, p. 48). “Meine Geschichte oder Begebenheiten des - Herrn Thomas: ein narkotisches Werk des Doktor Pifpuf,” Münster - und Leipzig, 1772, pp. 231, 8vo. A strange episodical - conglomerate; see _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, II, p. 135.] - - [Footnote 78: Leipzig, 1785 or 1786. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, - 1786, III, p. 259.] - - [Footnote 79: Altenburg, 1772, by von Schirach (?).] - - [Footnote 80: See _Auserlesene Bibl. der neuesten deutschen - Litteratur_, IV, pp. 320-325, and VII, pp. 227-234. _Allg. - deutsche Bibl._, XXIII, 1, p. 258; XXVI, 1, p. 209.] - - [Footnote 81: Riedel uses it, for example, in his “Launen an - meinen Satyr,” speaking of “mein swiftisch Steckenthier” in - “Vermischte Aufsätze,” reviewed in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1772, - pp. 358-9. _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, I, pp. 290-293.] - - [Footnote 82: “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Marianne Willemer - (Suleika).” Edited by Th. Creizenach, 2d edition; Stuttgart, 1878, - p. 290.] - - [Footnote 83: “K. L. von Knebel’s literarischer Nachlass und - Briefwechsel;” edited by Varnhagen von Ense and Th. Mundt, - Leipzig, 1835, p. 147.] - - [Footnote 84: See Mendelssohn’s Schriften; edited by G. B. - Mendelssohn, Leipzig, 1844, V, p. 202. See also letter of - Mendelssohn to Lessing, February 18, 1780.] - - [Footnote 85: Third edition, Berlin and Stettin, 1788, p. 14.] - - [Footnote 86: II, pp. 218 ff.] - - [Footnote 87: II, 2, p. 127.] - - [Footnote 88: These two cases are mentioned also by Riemann in - “Goethe’s Romantechnik.”] - - [Footnote 89: See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, May 8, 1772, p. 296.] - - [Footnote 90: III, pp. 276 ff.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -IMITATORS OF STERNE - - -Among the disciples of Sterne in Germany whose literary imitation may be -regarded as typical of their master’s influence, Johann Georg Jacobi is -perhaps the best known. His relation to the famous “Lorenzodosen” -conceit is sufficient to link his name with that of Yorick. Martin[1] -asserts that he was called “Uncle Toby” in Gleim’s circle because of his -enthusiasm for Sterne. The indebtedness of Jacobi to Sterne is the -subject of a special study by Dr. Joseph Longo, “Laurence Sterne und -Johann Georg Jacobi;” and the period of Jacobi’s literary work which -falls under the spell of Yorick has also been treated in an inaugural -dissertation, “Ueber Johann Georg Jacobi’s Jugendwerke,” by Georg -Ransohoff. The detail of Jacobi’s indebtedness to Sterne is to be found -in these two works. - -Longo was unable to settle definitely the date of Jacobi’s first -acquaintance with Sterne. The first mention made of him is in the letter -to Gleim of April 4, 1769, and a few days afterward,--April 10,--the -intelligence is afforded that he himself is working on a “journey.” The -“Winterreise” was published at Düsseldorf in the middle of June, 1769. -Externally the work seems more under the influence of the French -wanderer Chapelle, since prose and verse are used irregularly -alternating, a style quite different from the English model. There are -short and unnumbered chapters, as in the Sentimental Journey, but, -unlike Sterne, Jacobi, with one exception, names no places and makes no -attempt at description of place or people, other than the sentimental -individuals encountered on the way. He makes no analysis of national, or -even local characteristics: the journey, in short, is almost completely -without place-influence. There is in the volume much more exuberance of -fancy, grotesque at times, a more conscious exercise of the picturing -imagination than we find in Sterne. There is use, too, of mythological -figures quite foreign to Sterne, an obvious reminiscence of Jacobi’s -Anacreontic experience. He exaggerates Yorick’s sentimentalism, is more -weepy, more tender, more sympathizing; yet, as Longo does not -sufficiently emphasize, he does not touch the whimsical side of Yorick’s -work. Jacobi, unlike his model, but in common with other German -imitators, is insistent in instruction and serious in contention for pet -theories, as is exemplified by the discussion of the doctrine of -immortality. There are opinions to be maintained, there is a message to -be delivered. Jacobi in this does not give the lie to his nationality. - -Like other German imitators, too, he took up with especial feeling the -relations between man and the animal world, an attitude to be connected -with several familiar episodes in Sterne.[2] The two chapters, “Der -Heerd” and “Der Taubenschlag,” tell of a sentimental farmer who mourns -over the fact that his son has cut down a tree in which the nightingale -was wont to nest. A similar sentimental regard is cherished in this -family for the doves, which no one killed, because no one could eat -them. Even as Yorick meets a Franciscan, Jacobi encounters a Jesuit -whose heart leaps to meet his own, and later, after the real journey is -done, a visit to a lonely cloister gives opportunity for converse with a -monk, like Pater Lorenzo,--tender, simple and humane. - -The “Sommerreise,” according to Longo, appeared in the latter part of -September, 1769, a less important work, which, in the edition of 1807, -Jacobi considered unworthy of preservation. Imitation of Sterne is -marked: following a criticism by Wieland the author attempts to be -humorous, but with dubious success; he introduces a Sterne-like -sentimental character which had not been used in the “Winterreise,” -a beggar-soldier, and he repeats the motif of human sympathy for animals -in the story of the lamb. Sympathy with erring womanhood is expressed in -the incidents related in “Die Fischerhütte” and “Der Geistliche.” These -two books were confessedly inspired by Yorick, and contemporary -criticism treated them as Yorick products. The _Deutsche Bibliothek der -schönen Wissenschaften_, published by Jacobi’s friend Klotz, would -naturally favor the volumes. Its review of the “Winterreise” is -non-critical and chiefly remarkable for the denial of foreign imitation. -The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[3] in reviewing the same work pays -a significant tribute to Sterne, praising his power of disclosing the -good and beautiful in the seemingly commonplace. In direct criticism of -the book, the reviewer calls it a journey of fancy, the work of a -youthful poet rather than that of a sensitive philosopher. Wieland is -credited with the astounding opinion that he prefers the “Sommerreise” -to Yorick’s journey.[4] Longo’s characterization of Sterne is in the -main satisfactory, yet there is distinctly traceable the tendency to -ignore or minimize the whimsical elements of Sterne’s work: this is the -natural result of his approach to Sterne, through Jacobi, who understood -only the sentimentalism of the English master.[5] - -Among the works of sentiment which were acknowledged imitations of -Yorick, along with Jacobi’s “Winterreise,” probably the most typical and -best known was the “Empfindsame Reisen durch Deutschland” by Johann -Gottlieb Schummel. Its importance as a document in the history of -sentimentalism is rather as an example of tendency than as a force -contributing materially to the spread of the movement. Its influence was -probably not great, though one reviewer does hint at a following.[6] Yet -the book has been remembered more persistently than any other work of -its genre, except Jacobi’s works, undoubtedly in part because it was -superior to many of its kind, partly, also, because its author won later -and maintained a position of some eminence, as a writer and a pedagogue; -but largely because Goethe’s well-known review of it in the _Frankfurter -Gelehrte Anzeigen_ has been cited as a remarkably acute contribution to -the discriminating criticism of the genuine and the affected in the -eighteenth-century literature of feeling, and has drawn attention from -the very fact of its source to the object of its criticism. - -Schummel was born in May, 1748, and hence was but twenty years of age -when Germany began to thrill in response to Yorick’s sentiments. It is -probable that the first volume was written while Schummel was still a -university student in 1768-1770. He assumed a position as teacher in -1771, but the first volume came out at Easter of that year; this would -probably throw its composition back into the year before. The second -volume appeared at Michaelmas of the same year. His publisher was -Zimmermann at Wittenberg and Zerbst, and the first volume at any rate -was issued in a new edition. The third volume came out in the spring of -1772.[7] Schummel’s title, “Empfindsame Reisen,” is, of course, taken -from the newly coined word in Bode’s title, but in face of this fact it -is rather remarkable to find that several quotations from Sterne’s -Journey, given in the course of the work, are from the Mittelstedt -translation. On two occasions, indeed, Schummel uses the title of the -Mittelstedt rendering as first published, “Versuch über die menschliche -Natur.”[8] - -These facts lead one to believe that Schummel drew his inspiration from -the reading of this translation. This is interesting in connection with -Böttiger’s claim that the whole cavalcade of sentimental travelers who -trotted along after Yorick with all sorts of animals and vehicles was a -proof of the excellence and power of Bode’s translation. As one would -naturally infer from the title of Schummel’s fiction, the Sentimental -Journey is more constantly drawn upon as a source of ideas, motifs, -expression, and method, than Tristram Shandy, but the allusions to -Sterne’s earlier book, and the direct adaptations from it are both -numerous and generous. This fact has not been recognized by the critics, -and is not an easy inference from the contemporary reviews. - -The book is the result of an immediate impulse to imitation felt -irresistibly on the reading of Sterne’s narrative. That the critics and -readers of that day treated with serious consideration the efforts of a -callow youth of twenty or twenty-one in this direction is indicative -either of comparative vigor of execution, or of prepossession of the -critical world in favor of the literary genre,--doubtless of both. -Schummel confesses that the desire to write came directly after the book -had been read. “I had just finished reading it,” he says, “and Heaven -knows with what pleasure, every word from ‘as far as this matter is -concerned’ on to ‘I seized the hand of the lady’s maid,’ were imprinted -in my soul with small invisible letters.” The characters of the Journey -stood “life-size in his very soul.” Involuntarily his inventive powers -had sketched several plans for a continuation, releasing Yorick from the -hand of the _fille de chambre_. But what he attempts is not a -continuation but a German parallel. - -In the outward events of his story, in the general trend of its -argument, Schummel does not depend upon either Shandy or the Journey: -the hero’s circumstances are in general not traceable to the English -model, but, spasmodically, the manner of narration and the nature of the -incidents are quite slavishly copied. A complete summary of the thread -of incident on which the various sentimental adventures, whimsical -speculations and digressions are hung, can be dispensed with: it is only -necessary to note instances where connection with Sterne as a model can -be established. Schummel’s narrative is often for many successive pages -absolutely straightforward and simple, unbroken by any attempt at -Shandean buoyancy, and unblemished by overwrought sentiment. At the -pausing places he generally indulges in Sternesque quibbling. - -A brief analysis of the first volume, with especial reference to the -appropriation of Yorick features, will serve to show the extent of -imitation, and the nature of the method. In outward form the Sentimental -Journey is copied. The volume is not divided into chapters, but there -are named divisions: there is also Yorick-like repetition of -section-headings. Naturally the author attempts at the very beginning to -strike a note distinctly suggesting Sterne: “Is he dead, the old -cousin?” are the first words of the volume, uttered by the hero on -receipt of the news, and in Yorick fashion he calls for guesses -concerning the mien with which the words were said. The conversation of -the various human passions with Yorick concerning the advisability of -offering the lady in Calais a seat in his chaise is here directly -imitated in the questions put by avarice, vanity, etc., concerning the -cousin’s death. The actual journey does not begin until page 97, a brief -autobiography of the hero occupying the first part of the book; this -inconsequence is confessedly intended to be a Tristram Shandy whim.[9] -The author’s relation to his parents is adapted directly from Shandy, -since he here possesses an incapable, unpractical, philosophizing -father, who determines upon methods for the superior education of his -son; and a simple, silly mockery of a mother. - -Left, however, an orphan, he begins his sentimental adventures: thrust -on the world he falls in with a kindly baker’s wife whose conduct toward -him brings tears to the eyes of the ten-year old lad, this showing his -early appetite for sentimental journeying. A large part of this first -section relating to his early life and youthful struggles, his kindly -benefactor, his adventure with Potiphar’s wife, is simple and direct, -with only an occasional hint of Yorick’s influence in word or phrase, as -if the author, now and then, recalled the purpose and the inspiration. -For example, not until near the bottom of page 30 does it occur to him -to be abrupt and indulge in Shandean eccentricities, and then again, -after a few lines, he resumes the natural order of discourse. And again, -on page 83, he breaks off into attempted frivolity and Yorick -whimsicality of narration. In starting out upon his journey the author -says: “I will tread in Yorick’s foot-prints, what matters it if I do not -fill them out? My heart is not so broad as his, the sooner can it be -filled; my head is not so sound; my brain not so regularly formed. My -eyes are not so clear, but for that he was born in England and I in -Germany; he is a man and I am but a youth, in short, he is Yorick and I -am not Yorick.” He determines to journey where it is most sentimental -and passes the various lands in review in making his decision. Having -fastened upon Germany, he questions himself similarly with reference to -the cities. Yorick’s love of lists, of mock-serious discrimination, of -inconsequential reasonings is here copied. The call upon epic, tragic, -lyric poets, musicians, etc., which follows here is a further imitation -of Yorick’s list-making and pseudo-scientific method. - -On his way to Leipzig, in the post-chaise, the author falls in with a -clergyman: the manner of this meeting is intended to be Sterne-like: -Schummel sighs, the companion remarks, “You too are an unhappy one,” and -they join hands while the human heart beams in the traveler’s eyes. They -weep too at parting. But, apart from these external incidents of their -meeting, the matter of their converse is in no way inspired by Sterne. -It joins itself with the narrative of the author’s visit to a church in -a village by the wayside, and deals in general with the nature of the -clergyman’s relation to his people and the general mediocrity and -ineptitude of the average homiletical discourse, the failure of -clergymen to relate their pulpit utterance to the life of the common -Christian,--all of which is genuine, sane and original, undoubtedly a -real protest on the part of Schummel, the pedagogue, against a -prevailing abuse of his time and other times. This section represents -unquestionably the earnest convictions of its author, and is written -with professional zeal. This division is followed by an evidently -purposeful return to Sterne’s eccentricity of manner. The author begins -a division of his narrative, “Der zerbrochene Postwagen,” which is -probably meant to coincide with the post-chaise accident in Shandy’s -travels, writes a few lines in it, then begins the section again, -something like the interrupted story of the King of Bohemia and his -Seven Castles. Then follows an abrupt discursive study of his aptitudes -and proclivities, interspersed with Latin exclamations, interrogation -points and dashes. “What a parenthesis is that!” he cries, and a few -lines further on, “I burn with longing to begin a parenthesis again.” On -his arrival in Leipzig, Schummel imitates closely Sterne’s satirical -guide-book description of Calais[10] in his brief account of the city, -breaking off abruptly like Sterne, and roundly berating all -“Reisebeschreiber.” Here in fitting contrast with this superficial -enumeration of facts stands his brief traveler’s creed, an interest in -people rather than in places, all of which is derived from Sterne’s -chapter, “In the Street, Calais,” in which the master discloses the -sentimental possibilities of traveling and typifies the superficial, -unemotional wanderer in the persons of Smelfungus and Mundungus, and -from the familiar passage in “The Passport, Versailles,” beginning, “But -I could wish to spy out the nakedness, etc.” No sooner is he arrived in -Leipzig, than he accomplishes a sentimental rescue of an unfortunate -woman on the street. In the expression of her immediate needs, Schummel -indulges for the first time in a row of stars, with the obvious -intention of raising a low suggestion, which he contradicts with -mock-innocent questionings a few lines later, thereby fastening the -attention on the possibility of vulgar interpretation. Sterne is guilty -of this device in numerous instances in both his works, and the English -continuation of the Sentimental Journey relies upon it in greater and -more revolting measure. - -Once established in his hotel, the author betakes himself to the -theater: this very act he feels will bring upon him the censure of the -critics, for Yorick went to the theater too. “A merchant’s boy went -along before me,” he says in naïve defense, “was he also an imitator of -Yorick?” On the way he meets a fair maid-in-waiting, and the relation -between her and the traveler, developed here and later, is inspired -directly by Yorick’s connection with the fair _fille de chambre_. -Schummel imitates Sterne’s excessive detail of description, devoting a -whole paragraph to his manner of removing his hat before a lady whom he -encounters on this walk to the theater. This was another phase of -Sterne’s pseudo-scientific method: he describes the trivial with the -attitude of the trained observer, registering minutely the detail of -phenomena, a mock-parade of scholarship illustrated by his description -of Trim’s attitude while reading his sermon, or the dropping of the hat -in the kitchen during the memorable scene when the news of Bobby’s death -is brought. - -In Schummel’s narration of his adventures in the house of ill-repute -there are numerous sentimental excrescences in his conduct with the poor -prisoner there, due largely to Yorick’s pattern, such as their weeping -on one another’s breast, and his wiping away her tears and his, drawn -from Yorick’s amiable service for Maria of Moulines, an act seemingly -expressing the most refined human sympathy. The remaining events of this -first volume include an unexpected meeting with the kind baker’s wife, -which takes place at Gellert’s grave. Yorick’s imitators were especially -fond of re-introducing a sentimental relationship. Yorick led the way in -his renewed acquaintance with the _fille de chambre_; Stevenson in his -continuation went to extremes in exploiting this cheap device. - -Other motifs derived from Sterne, less integral, may be briefly -summarized. From the Sentimental Journey is taken the motif that -valuable or interesting papers be used to wrap ordinary articles of -trade: here herring are wrapped in fragments of the father’s philosophy; -in the Sentimental Journey we find a similar degrading use for the -“Fragment.” Schummel breaks off the chapter “La Naïve,”[11] under the -Sternesque subterfuge of having to deliver manuscript to an insistent -publisher. Yorick writes his preface to the Journey in the -“Désobligeant,” that is, in the midst of the narrative itself. Schummel -modifies the eccentricity merely by placing his foreword at the end of -the volume. The value of it, he says, will repay the reader for waiting -so long,--a statement which finds little justification in the preface -itself. It begins, “Auweh! Auweh! Ouais, Helas! . . . Diable, mein -Rücken, mein Fuss!” and so on for half a page,--a pitiful effort to -follow the English master’s wilful and skilful incoherence. The -following pages, however, once this outbreak is at an end, contain a -modicum of sense, the feeble, apologetic explanation of his desire in -imitating Yorick, given in forethought of the critics’ condemnation. -Similarly the position of the dedication is unusual, in the midst of the -volume, even as the dedication of Shandy was roguishly delayed. The -dedication itself, however, is not an imitation of Sterne’s clever -satire, but, addressed to Yorick himself, is a striking example of -burning personal devotion and over-wrought praise. Schummel hopes[12] in -Sterne fashion to write a chapter on “Vorübergeben,” or in the chapter -“Das Komödienhaus” (pp. 185-210) to write a digression on “Walking -behind a maid.” Like Sterne, he writes in praise of digressions.[13] In -imitation of Sterne is conceived the digressive speculation concerning -the door through which at the beginning of the book he is cast into the -rude world. Among further expressions savoring of Sterne, may be -mentioned a “Centner of curses” (p. 39), a “Quentchen of curses,” and -the analytical description of a tone of voice as one-fourth questioning, -five-eighths entreating and one-eighth commanding (p. 229). - -The direct allusions to Sterne and his works are numerous. A list of -Sterne characters which were indelibly impressed upon his mind is found -near the very beginning (pp. 3-4); other allusions are to M. Dessein -(p. 65), La Fleur’s “Courierstiefel” (p. 115), the words of the dying -Yorick (p. 128), the pococurantism of Mrs. Shandy (p. 187), the division -of travelers into types (p. 141), Uncle Toby (p. 200), Yorick’s -violin-playing (p. 274), the foolish fat scullion (p. 290), Yorick’s -description of a maid’s (p. 188) eyes, “als ob sie zwischen vier Wänden -einem Garaus machen könnten.” - -The second volume is even more incoherent in narration, and contains -less genuine occurrence and more ill-considered attempts at -whimsicality, yet throughout this volume there are indications that the -author is awakening to the vulnerability of his position, and this is in -no other particular more easily discernible than in the half-hearted -defiance of the critics and his anticipation of their censure. The -change, so extraordinary in the third volume, is foreshadowed in the -second. Purely sentimental, effusive, and abundantly teary is the story -of the rescued baker’s wife. In this excess of sentiment, Schummel shows -his intellectual appreciation of Sterne’s individual treatment of the -humane and pathetic, for near the end of the poor woman’s narrative the -author seems to recollect a fundamental sentence of Sterne’s creed, the -inevitable admixture of the whimsical, and here he introduces into the -sentimental relation a Shandean idiosyncrasy: from page 43 the narrative -leaps back to the beginning of the volume, and Schummel advises the -reader to turn back and re-read, referring incidentally to his confused -fashion of narration. The awkwardness with which this is done proves -Schummel’s inability to follow Yorick, though its use shows his -appreciation of Sterne’s peculiar genius. The visit of the author, the -baker’s wife and her daughter (the former lady’s maid) to the graveyard -is Yorickian in flavor, and the plucking of nettles from the grave of -the dead epileptic is a direct borrowing. Attempts to be immorally, -sensuously suggestive in the manner of Sterne are found in the so-called -chapter on “Button-holes,” here cast in a more Shandean vein, and in the -adventure “die ängstliche Nacht,”--in the latter case resembling more -the less frank, more insinuating method of the Sentimental Journey. The -sentimental attitude toward man’s dumb companions is imitated in his -adventure with the house-dog; the author fears the barking of this -animal may disturb the sleep of the poor baker’s wife: he beats the dog -into silence, then grows remorseful and wishes “that I had given him no -blow,” or that the dog might at least give him back the blows. His -thought that the dog might be pretending its pain, he designates a -subtle subterfuge of his troubled conscience, and Goethe, in the review -mentioned above, exclaims, “A fine pendant to Yorick’s scene with the -Monk.” - -Distinctly Shandean are the numerous digressions, as on imitation -(p. 16), on authors and fairs (p. 45), that which he calls (pp. 226-238) -“ein ganz originelles Gemische von Wiz, Belesenheit, Scharfsinn, -gesunder Philosophie, Erfahrung, Algebra und Mechanik,” or (p. 253) “Von -der Entstehungsart eines Buches nach Erfindung der Buchdrukerkunst,” -which in reference to Sterne’s phrase, is called a “jungfräuliche -Materie.” He promises (pp. 75 and 108), like Sterne, to write numerous -chapters on extraordinary subjects,--indeed, he announces his intention -of supplementing the missing sections of Shandy on “Button-holes” and on -the “Right and Left (sic) end of a Woman.” His own promised effusions -are to be “Ueber die roten und schwarzen Röcke,” “über die Verbindung -der Theologie mit Schwarz,” “Europäischenfrauenzimmerschuhabsätze,” half -a one “Ueber die Schuhsohlen” and “Ueber meinen Namen.” - -His additions to Shandy are flat and witless, that on the “Right and -Wrong End of a Woman” (pp. 88 ff.) degenerating into three brief -narratives displaying woman’s susceptibility to flattery, the whole idea -probably adapted from Sterne’s chapter, “An Act of Charity;” the chapter -on “Button-holes” is made a part of the general narrative of his -relation to his “Naïve.” Weakly whimsical is his seeking pardon for the -discourse with which the Frenchman (pp. 62-66), under the pretext that -it belonged somewhere else and had inadvertently crept in. Shandean also -is the black margin to pages 199-206, the line upside down (p. 175), -the twelve irregularly printed lines (p. 331), inserted to indicate his -efforts in writing with a burned hand, the lines of dashes and -exclamation points, the mathematical, financial calculation of the worth -of his book from various points of view, and the description of the -maiden’s walk (p. 291). Sterne’s mock-scientific method, as already -noted, is observable again in the statement of the position of the -dagger “at an angle of 30°” (p. 248). His coining of new words, for -which he is censured by the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_, is also a -legacy of Yorick’s method. - -The third volume bears little relation to Sterne aside from its title, -and one can only wonder, in view of the criticism of the two parts -already published and the nature of the author’s own partial revulsion -of feeling, that he did not give up publishing it altogether, or choose -another title, and sunder the work entirely from the foregoing volumes, -with which it has in fact so contradictory a connection. It may be that -his relations to the publisher demanded the issuing of the third part -under the same title. - -This volume is easily divisible into several distinct parts, which are -linked with one another, and to the preceding narrative, only by a -conventional thread of introduction. These comprise: the story of -Caroline and Rosenfeld, a typical eighteenth century tale of love, -seduction and flight; the hosts’ ballad, “Es war einmahl ein Edelmann;” -the play, “Die unschuldige Ehebrecherin” and “Mein Tagebuch,” the -journal of an honest preacher, and a further sincere exploitation of -Schummel’s ideas upon the clergyman’s office, his ideal of simplicity, -kindliness, and humanity. In the latter part of the book Schummel -resumes his original narrative, and indulges once more in the luxury of -sentimental adventure, but without the former abortive attempts at -imitating Sterne’s peculiarities of diction. This last resumption of the -sentimental creed introduces to us one event evidently inspired by -Yorick: he meets a poor, maimed soldier-beggar. Since misfortune has -deprived the narrator himself of his possessions, he can give nothing -and goes a begging for the beggar’s sake, introducing the new and highly -sentimental idea of “vicarious begging” (pp. 268-9). In the following -episode, a visit to a child-murderess, Schummel leaves a page entirely -blank as an appropriate proof of incapacity to express his emotions -attendant on the execution of the unfortunate. Sterne also left a page -blank for the description of the Widow Wadman’s charms. - -At the very end of the book Schummel drops his narrative altogether and -discourses upon his own work. It would be difficult to find in any -literature so complete a condemnation of one’s own serious and extensive -endeavor, so candid a criticism of one’s own work, so frank an -acknowledgment of the pettiness of one’s achievement. He says his work, -as an imitation of Sterne’s two novels, has “few or absolutely no -beauties of the original, and many faults of its own.” He states that -his enthusiasm for Tristram has been somewhat dampened by Sonnenfels and -Riedel; he sees now faults which should not have been imitated; the -frivolous attitude of the narrator toward his father and mother is -deprecated, and the suggestion is given that this feature was derived -from Tristram’s own frankness concerning the eccentricities and -incapacities of his parents. He begs reference to a passage in the -second volume[14] where the author alludes with warmth of appreciation -to his real father and mother; that is, genuine regard overcame the -temporary blindness, real affection arose and thrust out the transitory -inclination to an alien whimsicality. - -Schummel admits that he has utterly failed in his effort to characterize -the German people in the way Sterne treated the English and French; he -confesses that the ninety-page autobiography which precedes the journey -itself was intended to be Tristram-like, but openly stigmatizes his own -failure as “ill conceived, incoherent and not very well told!” After -mentioning some few incidents and passages in this first section which -he regards as passable, he boldly condemns the rest as “almost beneath -all criticism,” and the same words are used with reference to much that -follows, in which he confesses to imitation, bad taste and intolerable -indelicacy. He calls his pathetic attempts at whimsical mannerisms -(Heideldum, etc.), “kläglich, überaus kläglich,” expresses the opinion -that one would not be surprised at the reader who would throw away the -whole book at such a passage. The words of the preacher in the two -sections where he is allowed to air his opinions still meet with his -approval, and the same is true of one or two other sections. In -conclusion, he states that the first part contains hardly one hundred -good pages, and that the second part is worse than the first, so that he -is unwilling to look at it again and seek out its faults. The absence of -allusions to Sterne’s writings is marked, except in the critical section -at the end, he mentions Sterne but once (p. 239), where he calls him -“schnurrigt.” This alteration of feeling must have taken place in a -brief space of time, for the third volume is signed April 25, 1772. It -is not easy to establish with probability the works of Sonnenfels and -Riedel which are credited with a share in this revulsion of feeling. - -In all of this Schummel is a discriminating critic of his own work; he -is also discerning in his assertion that the narrative contained in his -volume is conceived more in the vein of Fielding and Richardson. The -Sterne elements are rather embroidered on to the other fabric, or, as he -himself says, using another figure, “only fried in Shandy fat.”[15] - -Goethe’s criticism of the second volume, already alluded to, is found in -the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ in the issue of March 3, 1772. The -nature of the review is familiar: Goethe calls the book a thistle which -he has found on Yorick’s grave. “Alles,” he says, “hat es dem guten -Yorick geraubt, Speer, Helm und Lanze, nur Schade! inwendig steckt der -Herr Präceptor S. zu Magdeburg . . . Yorick empfand, und dieser setzt -sich hin zu empfinden. Yorick wird von seiner Laune ergriffen, und -weinte und lachte in einer Minute und durch die Magie der Sympathie -lachen und weinen wir mit: hier aber steht einer und überlegt: wie lache -und weine ich? was werden die Leute sagen, wenn ich lache und weine?” -etc. Schummel is stigmatized as a childish imitator and his book is -censured as “beneath criticism,” oddly enough the very judgment its own -author accords but a few weeks later on the completion of the third -volume. The review contains several citations illustrative of Schummel’s -style. - -The first two parts were reviewed in the _Allgemeine deutsche -Bibliothek_.[16] The length of the review is testimony to the interest -in the book, and the tone of the article, though frankly unfavorable, -is not so emphatically censorious as the one first noted. It is observed -that Schummel has attempted the impossible,--the adoption of another’s -“Laune,” and hence his failure. The reviewer notes, often with generous -quotations, the more noticeable, direct imitations from Sterne, the -conversation of the emotions, the nettle-plucking at the grave, the -eccentric orthography and the new-coined words. Several passages of -comment or comparison testify to the then current admiration of Yorick, -and the conventional German interpretation of his character; “sein -gutes, empfindungsvolles Herz, mit Tugend und sittlichem Gefühl -erfüllt.” The review is signed “Sr:”[17] - -A critic in the _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ for January -17, 1772, treating the first two volumes, expresses the opinion that -Jacobi, the author of the “Tagereise,” and Schummel have little but the -title from Yorick. The author’s seeking for opportunity to dissolve in -emotion is contrasted unfavorably with Yorick’s method, the affected -style is condemned, yet it is admitted that the work promises better -things from its talented author; his power of observation and his good -heart are not to be unacknowledged. The severity of the review is -directed against the imitators already arising. - -The _Magazin der deutschen Critik_[18] reviews the third volume with -favorable comment; the comedy which Schummel saw fit to insert is -received with rather extraordinary praise, and the author is urged to -continue work in the drama; a desire is expressed even for a fourth -part. The _Hamburgische Neue Zeitung_, June 4 and October 29, 1771, -places Schummel unhesitatingly beside the English master, calls him as -original as his pattern, to Sterne belongs the honor only of the -invention. The author is hailed as a genius whose talents should be -supported, so that Germany would not have to envy England her -Yorick.[19] - -After Schummel’s remarkable self-chastisement, one could hardly expect -to find in his subsequent works evidence of Sterne’s influence, save as -unconsciously a dimmed admiration might exert a certain force. Probably -contemporaneous with the composition of the third volume of the work, -but possibly earlier, Schummel wrote the fourth part of a ponderous -novel by a fellow Silesian, Christian Opitz, entitled “Die Gleichheit -der menschlichen Herzen, bey der Ungleichheit ihrer äusserlichen -Umstände in der Geschichte Herrn Redlichs und seiner Bedienten.” Goedeke -implies that Opitz was the author of all but the last part, but the -reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[20] maintains that each -part has a different author, and quotes the preface to the fourth as -substantiation. According to this review both the second and fourth -parts are characterized by a humorous fashion in writing, and the last -is praised as being the best of the four. It seems probable that -Schummel’s enthusiasm for Sterne played its part in the composition of -this work. - -Possibly encouraged by the critic’s approbation, Schummel devoted his -literary effort for the following years largely to the drama. In 1774 he -published his “Uebersetzer-Bibliothek zum Gebrauche der Uebersetzer, -Schulmänner und Liebhaber der alten Litteratur.” The reviewer[21] in the -_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ finds passages in this book in which -the author of the “Empfindsame Reisen” is visible,--where his fancy runs -away with his reason,--and a passage is quoted in which reference is -made to Slawkenberg’s book on noses. It would seem that the seeking for -wit survived the crude sentimentality. - -Two years later Schummel published “Fritzen’s Reise nach Dessau,”[22] -a work composed of letters from a twelve-year old boy, written on a -journey from Magdeburg to Dessau. The letters are quite without whim or -sentiment, and the book has been remembered for the extended description -of Basedow’s experimental school, “Philantropin” (opened in 1774). Its -account has been the source of the information given of this endeavor in -some pedagogical treatises[23] and it was re-issued, as a document in -the history of pedagogical experiment, in Leipzig, by Albert Richter in -1891. About fifteen years later still the “Reise durch Schlesien”[24] -was issued. It is a simple narrative of a real journey with description -of places and people, frankly personal, almost epistolary in form, -without a suggestion of Sterne-like whim or sentiment. One passage is -significant as indicating the author’s realization of his change of -attitude. The sight of a group of prisoners bound by a chain calls to -his memory his former sentimental extravagance, and he exclaims: “Twenty -years ago, when I was still a sentimental traveler, I would have wasted -many an ‘Oh’ and ‘alas’ over this scene; at present, since I have -learned to know the world and mankind somewhat more intimately, I think -otherwise.” - -Johann Christian Bock (1724-1785), who was in 1772 theater-poet of the -Ackerman Company in Hamburg, soon after the publication of the -Sentimental Journey, identified himself with the would-be Yoricks by the -production of “Die Tagereise,” which was published at Leipzig in 1770. -The work was re-issued in 1775 with the new title “Die Geschichte eines -empfundenen Tages.”[25] The only change in the new edition was the -addition of a number of copperplate engravings. The book is inspired in -part by Sterne directly, and in part indirectly through the intermediary -Jacobi. Unlike the work of Schummel just treated, it betrays no Shandean -influence, but is dependent solely on the Sentimental Journey. In -outward form the book resembles Jacobi’s “Winterreise,” since verse is -introduced to vary the prose narrative. The attitude of the author -toward his journey, undertaken with conscious purpose, is characteristic -of the whole set of emotional sentiment-seekers, who found in their -Yorick a challenge to go and do likewise: “Everybody is journeying, -I thought, and took Yorick and Jacobi with me. . . . I will really see -whether I too may not chance upon a _fille de chambre_ or a -harvest-maid,” is a very significant statement of his inspiration and -intention. Once started on his journey, the author falls in with a poor -warrior-beggar, an adaptation of Sterne’s Chevalier de St. Louis,[26] -and he puts in verse Yorick’s expressed sentiment that the king and the -fatherland should not allow the faithful soldier to fall into such -distress. - -Bock’s next sentimental adventure is with a fair peasant-maid whom he -sees weeping by the wayside. Through Yorick-like insistence of sympathy, -he finally wins from her information concerning the tender situation: -a stern stepfather, an unwelcome suitor of his choosing, and a lover of -her own. Her inability to write and thus communicate with the latter is -the immediate cause of the present overflow. The traveler beholds in -this predicament a remarkable sentimental opportunity and offers his -services; he strokes her cheek, her tears are dried, and they part like -brother and sister. The episode is unquestionably inspired by the -episode of Maria of Moulines; in the latter development of the affair, -the sentiment, which is expressed, that the girl’s innocence is her own -defense is borrowed directly from Yorick’s statement concerning the -_fille de chambre_.[27] The traveler’s questioning of his own motives in -“Die Ueberlegung”[28] is distinctly Sterne-like, and it demonstrates -also Bock’s appreciation of this quizzical element in Yorick’s attitude -toward his own sentimental behavior. The relation of man to the domestic -animals is treated sentimentally in the episode of the old beggar and -his dead dog:[29] the tears of the beggar, his affection for the beast, -their genuine comradeship, and the dog’s devotion after the world had -forsaken his master, are all part and parcel of that fantastic humane -movement which has its source in Yorick’s dead ass. Bock practically -confesses his inspiration by direct allusion to the episode in Yorick. -Bock defends with warmth the old peasant and his grief. - -The wanderer’s acquaintance with the lady’s companion[30] is adapted -from Yorick’s _fille de chambre_ connection, and Bock cannot avoid a -fleshly suggestion, distinctly in the style of Yorick in the section, -the “Spider.”[31] The return journey in the sentimental moonlight -affords the author another opportunity for the exercise of his broad -human sympathy: he meets a poor woman, a day-laborer with her child, -gives them a few coins and doubts whether king or bishop could be more -content with the benediction of the apostolic chair than he with the -blessing of this unfortunate,--a sentiment derived from Yorick’s -overcolored veneration for the horn snuff-box. - -The churchyard scene with which the journey ends is more openly -fanciful, down-right visionary in tone, but the manner is very -emphatically not that of Sterne, though in the midst the Sterne motif of -nettle-plucking is introduced. This sentimental episode took hold of -German imagination with peculiar force. The hobby-horse idea also was -sure of its appeal, and Bock did not fail to fall under its spell.[32] - -But apart from the general impulse and borrowing of motif from the -foreign novel, there is in this little volume considerable that is -genuine and original: the author’s German patriotism, his praise of the -old days in the Fatherland in the chapter entitled “Die Gaststube,” his -“Trinklied eines Deutschen,” his disquisition on the position of the -poet in the world (“ein eignes Kapitel”), and his adulation of Gellert -at the latter’s grave. The reviewer in the _Deutsche Bibliothek der -schönen Wissenschaften_[33] chides the unnamed, youthful author for not -allowing his undeniable talents to ripen to maturity, for being led on -by Jacobi’s success to hasten his exercises into print. In reality Bock -was no longer youthful (forty-six) when the “Tagereise” was published. -The _Almanach der deutschen Musen_ for 1771, calls the book “an -unsuccessful imitation of Yorick and Jacobi,” and wishes that this -“Rhapsodie von Cruditäten” might be the last one thrust on the market as -a “Sentimental Journey.” The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[34] -comments also on the double inspiration, and the insufficiency and -tiresomeness of the performance. And yet Boie[35] says the papers -praised the little book; for himself, however, he observes, he little -desires to read it, and adds “What will our Yoricks yet come to? At last -they will get pretty insignificant, I think, if they keep on this way.” - -Bock was also the author of a series of little volumes written in the -early seventies, still under the sentimental charm: (1) Empfindsame -Reise durch die Visitenzimmer am Neujahrstag von einem deutschen Yorick -angestellt, Cosmopolis (Hamburg) 1771--really published at the end of -the previous year; (2) . . . am Ostertage, 1772; (3) Am Pfingsttage, -1772; (4) Am Johannistage, 1773; (5) Am Weynachtstage, 1773. These books -were issued anonymously, and Schröder’s Lexicon gives only (2) and (3) -under Bock’s name, but there seems no good reason to doubt his -authorship of them all. Indeed, his claim to (1) is, according to the -_Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, well-nigh proven by an allusion to the -“Tagereise” in the introduction, and by the initials signed. None of -them are given by Goedeke. The books are evidently only in a general way -dependent on the Sterne model, and are composed of observations upon all -sorts of subjects, the first section of each volume bearing some -relation to the festival in which they appear. - -In the second edition of the first volume the author confesses that the -title only is derived from Yorick,[36] and states that he was forced to -this misuse because no one at that time cared to read anything but -“Empfindsame Reisen.” It is also to be noted that the description -beneath the title, “von einem deutschen Yorick angestellt,” is omitted -after the first volume. The review of (4) and (5) in the _Altonaer -Reichs-Postreuter_ finds this a commendable resumption of proper -humility. The observations are evidently loosely strung together without -the pretense of a narrative, such as “Allgemeines Perspectiv durch alle -Visitenzimmer, Empfindsamer Neujahrswunsch, Empfindsame Berechnung eines -Weisen mit sich selbst, Empfindsame Entschlüsse, Empfindsame Art sein -Geld gut unterzubringen,” etc.[37] An obvious purpose inspires the -writer, the furthering of morality and virtue; many of the meditations -are distinctly religious. That some of the observations had a local -significance in Hamburg, together with the strong sentimental tendency -there, may account for the warm reception by the _Hamburgischer -unpartheyischer Correspondent_.[38] - -Some contemporary critics maintained a kinship between Matthias Claudius -and Yorick-Sterne, though nothing further than a similarity of mental -and emotional fibre is suggested. No one claimed an influence working -from the English master. Even as late as 1872, Wilhelm Röseler in his -introductory poem to a study of “Matthias Claudius und sein Humor”[39] -calls Asmus, “Deutschland’s Yorick,” thereby agreeing almost verbally -with the German correspondent of the _Deutsches Museum_, who wrote from -London nearly a hundred years before, September 14, 1778, “Asmus . . . -is the German Sterne,” an assertion which was denied by a later -correspondent, who asserts that Claudius’s manner is very different from -that of Sterne.[40] - -August von Kotzebue, as youthful narrator, betrays a dependence on -Sterne in his strange and ingeniously contrived tale, “Die Geschichte -meines Vaters, oder wie es zuging, dass ich gebohren wurde.”[41] The -influence of Sterne is noticeable in the beginning of the story: -he commences with a circumstantial account of his grandfather and -grandmother, and the circumstances of his father’s birth. The -grandfather is an original undoubtedly modeled on lines suggested by -Sterne’s hobby-horse idea. He had been chosen in days gone by to greet -the reigning prince on the latter’s return from a journey, and the old -man harks back to this circumstance with “hobby-horsical” persistence, -whatever the subject of conversation, even as all matters led Uncle Toby -to military fortification, and the elder Shandy to one of his pet -theories. - -In Schrimps the servant, another Shandean original is designed. When the -news comes of the birth of a son on Mount Vesuvius, master and man -discuss multifarious and irrelevant topics in a fashion reminiscent of -the conversation downstairs in the Shandy mansion while similar events -are going on above. Later in the book we have long lists, or catalogues -of things which resemble one of Sterne’s favorite mannerisms. But the -greater part of the wild, adventurous tale is far removed from its -inception, which presented domestic whimsicality in a gallery of -originals, unmistakably connected with Tristram Shandy. - -Göschen’s “Reise von Johann”[42] is a product of the late renascence of -sentimental journeying. Master and servant are represented in this book -as traveling through southern Germany, a pair as closely related in head -and heart as Yorick and La Fleur, or Captain Shandy and Corporal Trim. -The style is of rather forced buoyancy and sprightliness, with -intentional inconsequence and confusion, an attempt at humor of -narration, which is choked by characteristic national desire to convey -information, and a fatal propensity to description of places,[43] even -when some satirical purpose underlies the account, as in the description -of Erlangen and its university. The servant Johann has mild adventures -with the maids in the various inns, which are reminiscent of Yorick, -and in one case it borders on the openly suggestive and more Shandean -method.[44] A distinctly borrowed motif is the accidental finding of -papers which contain matters of interest. This is twice resorted to; -a former occupant of the room in the inn in Nürnberg had left valuable -notes of travel; and Johann, meeting a ragged woman, bent on -self-destruction, takes from her a box with papers, disclosing a -revolting story, baldly told. German mediocrity, imitating Yorick in -this regard, and failing of his delicacy and subtlety, brought forth -hideous offspring. An attempt at whimsicality of style is apparent in -the “Furth Catechismus in Frage und Antwort” (pp. 71-74), and genuinely -sentimental adventures are supplied by the death-bed scene (pp. 70-71) -and the village funeral (pp. 74-77). - -This book is classed by Ebeling[45] without sufficient reason as an -imitation of von Thümmel. This statement is probably derived from the -letter from Schiller to Goethe to which Ebeling refers in the following -lines. Schiller is writing to Goethe concerning plans for the Xenien, -December 29, 1795.[46] The abundance of material for the Xenien project -is commented upon with enthusiastic anticipation, and in a list of -vulnerable possibilities we read: “Thümmel, Göschen als sein -Stallmeister--” a collocation of names easily attributable, in -consideration of the underlying satiric purpose, to the general nature -of their work, without in any way implying the dependence of one author -on another,[47] or it could be interpreted as an allusion to the fact -that Göschen was von Thümmel’s publisher. Nor is there anything in the -correspondence to justify Ebeling’s harshness in saying concerning this -volume of Göschen, that it “enjoyed the honor of being ridiculed -(verhöhnt) in the Xenien-correspondence between Goethe and Schiller.” -Goethe replies (December 30), in approval, and exclaims, “How fine -Charis and Johann will appear beside one another.”[48] The suggestion -concerning a possible use of Göschen’s book in the Xenien was never -carried out. - -It will be remembered that Göschen submitted the manuscript of his book -to Schiller, and that Schiller returned the same with the statement -“that he had laughed heartily at some of the whims.[49]” Garve, in a -letter dated March 8, 1875, speaks of Göschen’s book in terms of -moderate praise.[50] - -The “Empfindsame Reise von Oldenburg nach Bremen,”[51] the author of -which was a Hanoverian army officer, H. J. C. Hedemann, is characterized -by Ebeling as emphatically not inspired by Sterne.[52] Although it is -not a sentimental journey, as Schummel and Jacobi and Bock conceived it, -and is thus not an example of the earliest period of imitation, and -although it contains no passages of teary sentimentality in attitude -toward man and beast, one must hesitate in denying all connection with -Sterne’s manner. It would seem as if, having outgrown the earlier -Yorick, awakened from dubious, fine-spun dreams of human brotherhood, -perhaps by the rude clatter of the French revolution, certain would-be -men of letters turned to Yorick again and saw, as through a glass -darkly, that other element of his nature, and tried in lumbering, -Teutonic way to adopt his whimsicality, shorn now of sentimentalism, and -to build success for their wares on remembrance of a defaced idol. This -view of later sentimental journeying is practically acknowledged at any -rate in a contemporary review, the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ for -August 22, 1796, which remarks: “A sentimental voyage ist ein Quodlibet, -wo einige bekannte Sachen und Namen gezwungenen Wiz und matten Scherz -heben sollen.”[53] - -Hedemann’s book is conspicuous in its effort to be whimsical and is -openly satirical in regard to the sentimentalism of former travelers. -His endeavor is markedly in Sterne’s manner in his attitude toward the -writing of the book, his conversation about the difficulty of managing -the material, his discussion with himself and the reader about the -various parts of the book. Quite in Sterne’s fashion, and to be -associated with Sterne’s frequent promises of chapters, and statements -concerning embarrassment of material, is conceived his determination “to -mention some things beforehand about which I don’t know anything to -say,” and his rather humorous enumeration of them. The author satirizes -the real sentimental traveler of Sterne’s earlier imitators in the -following passage (second chapter): - -“It really must be a great misfortune, an exceedingly vexatious case, -if no sentimental scenes occur to a sentimental traveler, but this is -surely not the case; only the subjects, which offer themselves must be -managed with strict economy. If one leaps over the most interesting -events entirely, one is in danger, indeed, of losing everything, at -least of not filling many pages.” - -Likewise in the following account of a sentimental adventure, the -satirical purpose is evident. He has not gone far on his journey when he -is met by a troop of children; with unsentimental coldness he determines -that there is a “Schlagbaum” in the way. After the children have opened -the barrier, he debates with himself to which child to give his little -coin, concludes, as a “sentimental traveler,” to give it to the other -sex, then there is nothing left to do but to follow his instinct. He -reflects long with himself whether he was right in so doing,--all of -which is a deliberate jest at the hesitation with reference to trivial -acts, the self-examination with regard to the minutiae of past conduct, -which was copied by Sterne’s imitators from numerous instances in the -works of Yorick. Satirical also is his vision in Chapter VII, in which -he beholds the temple of stupidity where lofty stupidity sits on a paper -throne; and of particular significance here is the explanation that the -whole company who do “erhabene Dummheit” honor formerly lived in cities -of the kingdom, but “now they are on journeys.” Further examples of a -humorous manner akin to Sterne are: his statement that it would be a -“great error” to write an account of a journey without weaving in an -anecdote of a prince, his claim that he has fulfilled all duties of such -a traveler save to fall in love, his resolve to accomplish it, and his -formal declaration: “I, the undersigned, do vow and make promise to be -in love before twenty-four hours are past.” The story with which his -volume closes, “Das Ständchen,” is rather entertaining and is told -graphically, easily, without whim or satire, yet not without a Sternian -_double entendre_.[54] - -Another work in which sentimentalism has dwindled away to a grinning -shade, and a certain irresponsible, light-hearted attitude is the sole -remaining connection with the great progenitor, is probably the -“Empfindsame Reise nach Schilda” (Leipzig, 1793), by Andreas Geo. Fr. -von Rabenau, which is reviewed in the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ -(1794, I, p. 416) as a free revision of an old popular tale, “Das -lustige und lächerliche Lalenburg.” The book is evidently without -sentimental tinge, is a merry combination of wit and joke combined with -caricature and half-serious tilting against unimportant literary -celebrities.[55] - -Certain miscellaneous works, which are more or less obviously connected -with Sterne may be grouped together here. - -To the first outburst of Sterne enthusiasm belongs an anonymous product, -“Zween Tage eines Schwindsüchtigen, etwas Empfindsames,” von L. . . . -(Hamburg, 1772), yet the editor admits that the sentiment is “not -entirely like Yorick’s,” and the _Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter_ (July 2, -1772) adds that “not at all like Yorick’s” would have been nearer the -truth. This book is mentioned by Hillebrand with implication that it is -the extreme example of the absurd sentimental tendency, probably judging -merely from the title,[56] for the book is doubtless merely thoughtful, -contemplative, with a minimum of overwrought feeling. - -According to the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ (1775, pp. 592-3), -another product of the earlier seventies, the “Leben und Schicksale des -Martin Dickius,” by Johann Moritz Schwager, is in many places a clever -imitation of Sterne,[57] although the author claims, like Wezel in -“Tobias Knaut,” not to have read Shandy until after the book was -written. Surely the digression on noses which the author allows himself -is suspicious. - -Blankenburg, the author of the treatise on the novel to which reference -has been made, was regarded by contemporary and subsequent criticism as -an imitator of Sterne in his oddly titled novel “Beyträge zur Geschichte -des teutschen Reiches und teutscher Sitten,”[58] although the general -tenor of his essay, in reasonableness and balance, seemed to promise a -more independent, a more competent and felicitous performance. Kurz -expresses this opinion, which may have been derived from criticisms in -the eighteenth century journals. The _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, -July 28, 1775, does not, however, take this view; but seems to be in the -novel a genuine exemplification of the author’s theories as previously -expressed.[59] The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[60] calls the book -didactic, a tract against certain essentially German follies. Merck, in -the _Teutscher Merkur_,[61] says the imitation of Sterne is quite too -obvious, though Blankenburg denies it. - -Among miscellaneous and anonymous works inspired directly by Sterne, -belongs undoubtedly “Die Geschichte meiner Reise nach Pirmont” (1773), -the author of which claims that it was written before Yorick was -translated or Jacobi published. He says he is not worthy to pack -Yorick’s bag or weave Jacobi’s arbor,[62] but the review of the -_Almanach der deutschen Musen_ evidently regards it as a product, -nevertheless, of Yorick’s impulse. Kuno Ridderhoff in his study of Frau -la Roche[63] says that the “Empfindsamkeit” of Rosalie in the first part -of “Rosaliens Briefe” is derived from Yorick. The “Leben, Thaten und -Meynungen des D. J. Pet. Menadie” (Halle, 1777-1781) is charged by the -_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ with attempt at Shandy-like -eccentricity of narrative and love of digression.[64] - -One little volume, unmistakably produced under Yorick’s spell, is worthy -of particular mention because at its time it received from the reviewers -a more cordial welcome than was accorded to the rank and file of -Sentimental Journeys. It is “M . . . R . . .” by E. A. A. von Göchhausen -(1740-1824), which was published at Eisenach, 1772, and was deemed -worthy of several later editions. Its dependence on Sterne is confessed -and obvious, sometimes apologetically and hesitatingly, sometimes -defiantly. The imitation of Sterne is strongest at the beginning, both -in outward form and subject-matter, and this measure of indebtedness -dwindles away steadily as the book advances. Göchhausen, as other -imitators, used at the outset a modish form, returned to it consciously -now and then when once under way, but when he actually had something to -say, a message of his own, found it impracticable or else forgot to -follow his model. - -The absurd title stands, of course, for “Meine Reisen” and the puerile -abbreviation as well as the reasons assigned for it, were intended to be -a Sterne-like jest, a pitiful one. Why Goedeke should suggest “Meine -Randglossen” is quite inexplicable, since Göchhausen himself in the very -first chapter indicates the real title. Beneath the enigmatical title -stands an alleged quotation from Shandy: “Ein Autor borgt, bettelt und -stiehlt so stark von dem andern, dass bey meiner Seele! die Originalität -fast so rar geworden ist als die Ehrlichkeit.”[65] The book itself, like -Sterne’s Journey, is divided into brief chapters unnumbered but named. -As the author loses Yorick from sight, the chapters grow longer. -Göchhausen has availed himself of an odd device to disarm -criticism,--a plan used once or twice by Schummel: occasionally when the -imitation is obvious, he repudiates the charge sarcastically, or -anticipates with irony the critics’ censure. For example, he gives -directions to his servant Pumper to pack for the journey; a reader -exclaims, “a portmanteau, Mr. Author, so that everything, even to that, -shall be just like Yorick,” and in the following passage the author -quarrels with the critics who allow no one to travel with a portmanteau, -because an English clergyman traveled with one. Pumper’s -misunderstanding of this objection is used as a farther ridicule of the -critics. When on the journey, the author converses with two poor -wandering monks, whose conversation, at any rate, is a witness to their -content, the whole being a legacy of the Lorenzo episode, and the author -entitles the chapter: “The members of the religious order, or, as some -critics will call it, a wretchedly unsuccessful imitation.” In the next -chapter, “Der Visitator” (pp. 125 ff.) in which the author encounters -customs annoyances, the critic is again allowed to complain that -everything is stolen from Yorick, a protest which is answered by the -author quite naïvely, “Yorick journeyed, ate, drank; I do too.” In “Die -Pause” the author stands before the inn door and fancies that a number -of spies (Ausspäher) stand there waiting for him; he protests that -Yorick encountered beggars before the inn in Montreuil, a very different -sort of folk. On page 253 he exclaims, “für diesen schreibe ich dieses -Kapitel nicht und ich--beklage ihn!” Here a footnote suggests “Das -übrige des Diebstahls vid. Yorick’s Gefangenen.” Similarly when he calls -his servant his “La Fleur,” he converses with the critics about his -theft from Yorick. - -The book is opened by a would-be whimsical note, the guessing about the -name of the book. The dependence upon Sterne, suggested by the motto, is -clinched by reference to this quotation in the section “Apologie,” and -by the following chapter, which is entitled “Yorick.” The latter is the -most unequivocal and, withal, the most successful imitation of Yorick’s -manner which the volume offers. The author is sitting on a sofa reading -the Sentimental Journey, and the idea of such a trip is awakened in him. -Someone knocks and the door is opened by the postman, as the narrator is -opening his “Lorenzodose,” and the story of the poor monk is touching -his heart now for the twentieth time as strongly as ever. The postman -asks postage on the letter as well as his own trivial fee. The author -counts over money, miscounts it, then in counting forgets all about it, -puts the money away and continues the reading of Yorick. The postman -interrupts him; the author grows impatient and says, “You want four -groschen?” and is inexplicably vexed at the honesty of the man who says -it is only three pfennigs for himself and the four groschen for the -post. Here is a direct following of the Lorenzo episode; caprice rules -his behavior toward an inferior, who is modest in his request. After the -incident, his spite, his head and his heart and his “ich” converse in -true Sterne fashion as to the advisability of his beginning to read -Yorick again. He reasons with himself concerning his conduct toward the -postman, then in an apostrophe to Yorick he condemns himself for failing -in this little test. This conversation occupies so much time that he -cannot run after the postman, but he resolves that nothing, not even the -fly that lights on his nose, shall bring him so far as to forget -wherefore his friend J . . . . sent him a “Lorenzodose.” And at the end -of the section there is a picture of the snuff-box with the lid open, -disclosing the letters of the word “Yorick.” The “Lorenzodose” is -mentioned later, and later still the author calms his indignation by -opening the box; he fortifies himself also by a look at the -treasure.[66] - -Following this picture of the snuff-box is an open letter to “My dear -J . . . ,” who, at the author’s request, had sent him on June 29th a -“Lorenzodose.” Jacobi’s accompanying words are given. The author -acknowledges the difficulty with which sometimes the self-conquest -demanded by allegiance to the sentimental symbol has been won. - -Yet, compared with some other imitations of the good Yorick, the volume -contains but a moderate amount of lavish sentiment. The servant Pumper -is a man of feeling, who grieves that the horses trod the dewdrops from -the blades of grass. Cast in the real Yorick mould is the scene in which -Pumper kills a marmot (Hamster); upon his master’s expostulation that -God created the little beast also, Pumper is touched, wipes the blood -off with his cuff and buries the animal with tenderness, indulging in a -pathetic soliloquy; the whole being a variant of Yorick’s ass episode. - -Marked with a similar vein of sentimentality is the narrator’s conduct -toward the poor wanderer with his heavy burden: the author asserts that -he has never eaten a roll, put on a white shirt, traveled in a -comfortable carriage, or been borne by a strong horse, without bemoaning -those who were less fortunately circumstanced. A similar and truly -Sterne-like triumph of feeling over convention is the traveler’s -insistence that Pumper shall ride with him inside the coach; seemingly a -point derived from Jacobi’s failure to be equally democratic.[67] - -Sterne’s emphasis upon the machinery of his story-telling, especially -his distraught pretense at logical sequence in the ordering of his -material is here imitated. For example: near the close of a chapter the -author summons his servant Pumper, but since the chapter bore the title -“Der Brief” and the servant can neither read nor write a letter, he says -the latter has nothing to do in that chapter, but he is to be introduced -in the following one. Yet with Yorick’s inconsequence, the narrator is -led aside and exclaims at the end of this chapter, “But where is -Pumper?” with the answer, “Heaven and my readers know, it was to no -purpose that this chapter was so named (and perhaps this is not the last -one to which the title will be just as appropriate)”, and the next -chapter pursues the whimsical attempt, beginning “As to whether Pumper -will appear in this chapter, about that, dear reader, I am not really -sure myself.” - -The whimsical, unconventional interposition of the reader, and the -author’s reasoning with him, a Sterne device, is employed so constantly -in the book as to become a wearying mannerism. Examples have already -been cited, additional ones are numerous: the fifth section is devoted -to such conversation with the reader concerning the work; later the -reader objects to the narrator’s drinking coffee without giving a -chapter about it; the reader is allowed to express his wonder as to what -the chapter is going to be because of the author’s leap; the reader -guesses where the author can be, when he begins to describe conditions -in the moon. The chapter “Der Einwurf” is occupied entirely with the -reader’s protest, and the last two sections are largely the record of -fancied conversations with various readers concerning the nature of the -book; here the author discloses himself.[68] Sterne-like whim is found -in the chapter “Die Nacht,” which consists of a single sentence: “Ich -schenke Ihnen diesen ganzen Zeitraum, denn ich habe ihn ruhig -verschlafen.” Similar Shandean eccentricity is illustrated by the -chapter entitled “Der Monolog,” which consists of four lines of dots, -and the question, “Didn’t you think all this too, my readers?” -Typographical eccentricity is observed also in the arrangement of the -conversation of the ladies A., B., C., D., etc., in the last chapter. -Like Sterne, our author makes lists of things; probably inspired by -Yorick’s apostrophe to the “Sensorium” is our traveler’s appeal to the -spring of joy. The description of the fashion of walking observed in the -maid in the moon is reminiscent of a similar passage in Schummel’s -journey. - -Göchhausen’s own work, untrammeled by outside influence, is -considerable, largely a genial satire on critics and philosophers; -his stay in the moon is a kind of Utopian fancy. - -The literary journals accepted Göchhausen’s work as a Yorick imitation, -condemned it as such apologetically, but found much in the book worthy -of their praise.[69] - -Probably the best known novel which adopts in considerable measure the -style of Tristram Shandy is Wezel’s once famous “Tobias Knaut,” the -“Lebensgeschichte Tobias Knauts des Weisen sonst Stammler genannt, -aus Familiennachrichten gesammelt.”[70] In this work the influence of -Fielding is felt parallel to that of Sterne. The historians of -literature all accord the book a high place among humorous efforts of -the period, crediting the author with wit, narrative ability, knowledge -of human nature and full consciousness of plan and purpose.[71] They -unite also in the opinion that “Tobias Knaut” places Wezel in the ranks -of Sterne imitators, but this can be accepted only guardedly, for in -part the novel must be regarded as a satire on “Empfindsamkeit” and -hence in some measure be classified as an opposing force to Sterne’s -dominion, especially to the distinctively German Sterne. That this -impulse, which later became the guiding principle of “Wilhelmine Arend,” -was already strong in “Tobias Knaut” is hinted at by Gervinus, but -passed over in silence by other writers. Kurz, following Wieland, who -reviewed the novel in his _Merkur_, finds that the influence of Sterne -was baneful. Other contemporary reviews deplored the imitation as -obscuring and stultifying the undeniable and genuinely original talents -of the author.[72] - -A brief investigation of Wezel’s novel will easily demonstrate his -indebtedness to Sterne. Yet Wezel in his preface, anticipating the -charge of imitation, asserts that he had not read Shandy when “Tobias” -was begun. Possibly he intends this assertion as a whim, for he quotes -Tristram at some length.[73] This inconsistency is occasion for censure -on the part of the reviewers. - -Wezel’s story begins, like Shandy, “ab ovo,” and, in resemblance to -Sterne’s masterpiece, the connection between the condition of the child -before its birth and its subsequent life and character is insisted upon. -A reference is later made to this. The work is episodical and -digressive, but in a more extensive way than Shandy; the episodes in -Sterne’s novel are yet part and parcel of the story, infused with the -personality of the writer, and linked indissolubly to the little family -of originals whose sayings and doings are immortalized by Sterne. This -is not true of Wezel: his episodes and digressions are much more purely -extraneous in event, and nature of interest. The story of the new-found -son, which fills sixty-four pages, is like a story within a story, for -its connection with the Knaut family is very remote. This very story, -interpolated as it is, is itself again interrupted by a seven-page -digression concerning Tyrus, Alexander, Pipin and Charlemagne, which the -author states is taken from the one hundred and twenty-first chapter of -his “Lateinische Pneumatologie,”--a genuine Sternian pretense, reminding -one of the “Tristrapaedia.” Whimsicality of manner distinctly -reminiscent of Sterne is found in his mock-scientific catalogues or -lists of things, as in Chapter III, “Deduktionen, Dissertationen, -Argumentationen a priori und a posteriori,” and so on; plainly adapted -from Sterne’s idiosyncrasy of form is the advertisement which in large -red letters occupies the middle of a page in the twenty-first chapter of -the second volume, which reads as follows: “Dienst-freundliche Anzeige. -Jedermann, der an ernsten Gesprächen keinen Gefallen findet, wird -freundschaftlich ersucht alle folgende Blätter, deren Inhalt einem -Gespräche ähnlich sieht, wohlbedächtig zu überschlagen, d.h. von dieser -Anzeige an gerechnet. Darauf denke ich, soll jedermanniglich vom 22. -Absatze fahren können,--Cuique Suum.” The following page is blank: this -is closely akin to Sterne’s vagaries. Like Sterne, he makes promise of -chapter-subject.[74] Similarly dependent on Sterne’s example, is the -Fragment in Chapter VIII, Volume III, which breaks off suddenly under -the plea that the rest could not be found. Like Sterne, our author -satirizes detailed description in the excessive account of the -infinitesimals of personal discomfort after a carouse.[75] He makes also -obscure whimsical allusions, accompanied by typographical eccentricities -(I, p. 153). To be connected with the story of the Abbess of Andouillets -is the humor “Man leuterirte, appelirte--irte,--irte,--irte.” - -The author’s perplexities in managing the composition of the book are -sketched in a way undoubtedly derived from Sterne,--for example, the -beginning of Chapter IX in Volume III is a lament over the difficulties -of chronicling what has happened during the preceding learned -disquisition. When Tobias in anger begins to beat his horse, this is -accompanied by the sighs of the author, a really audible one being put -in a footnote, the whole forming a whimsy of narrative style for which -Sterne must be held responsible. Similar to this is the author’s -statement (Chap. XXV, Vol. II), that Lucian, Swift, Pope, Wieland and -all the rest could not unite the characteristics which had just been -predicated of Selmann. Like Sterne, Wezel converses with the reader -about the way of telling the story, indulging[76] in a mock-serious line -of reasoning with meaningless Sternesque dashes. Further conversation -with the reader is found at the beginning of Chapter III in Volume I, -and in Chapter VIII of the first volume, he cries, “Wake up, ladies and -gentlemen,” and continues at some length a conversation with these -fancied personages about the progress of the book. Wezel in a few cases -adopted the worst feature of Sterne’s work and was guilty of bad taste -in precisely Yorick’s style: Tobias’s adventure with the so-called -soldier’s wife, after he has run away from home, is a case in point, but -the following adventure with the two maidens while Tobias is bathing in -the pool is distinctly suggestive of Fielding. Sterne’s indecent -suggestion is also followed in the hints at the possible occasion of the -Original’s aversion to women. A similar censure could be spoken -regarding the adventure in the tavern,[77] where the author hesitates on -the edge of grossness. - -Wezel joined other imitators of Yorick in using as a motif the -accidental interest of lost documents, or papers: here the poems of the -“Original,” left behind in the hotel, played their rôle in the tale. -The treatment of the wandering boy by the kindly peasant is clearly an -imitation of Yorick’s famous visit in the rural cottage. A parallel to -Walter Shandy’s theory of the dependence of great events on trifles is -found in the story of the volume of Tacitus, which by chance suggested -the sleeping potion for Frau v. L., or that Tobias’s inability to take -off his hat with his right hand was influential on the boy’s future -life. This is a reminder of Tristram’s obliquity in his manner of -setting up his top. As in Shandy, there is a discussion about the -location of the soul. The character of Selmann is a compound of Yorick -and the elder Shandy, with a tinge of satiric exaggeration, meant to -chastise the thirst for “originals” and overwrought sentimentalism. His -generosity and sensitiveness to human pain is like Yorick. As a boy he -would empty his purse into the bosom of a poor man; but his daily life -was one round of Shandean speculation, largely about the relationships -of trivial things: for example, his yearly periods of investigating his -motives in inviting his neighbors Herr v. ** and Herr v. *** every July -to his home. - -Wezel’s satire on the craze for originality is exemplified in the -account of the “Original” (Chap. XXII, Vol. II), who was cold when -others were hot, complained of not liking his soup because the plate was -not full, but who threw the contents of his coffee cup at the host -because it was filled to the brim, and trembled at the approach of a -woman. Selmann longs to meet such an original. Selmann also thinks he -has found an original in the inn-keeper who answers everything with -“Nein,” greatly to his own disadvantage, though it turns out later that -this was only a device planned by another character to gain advantage -over Selmann himself. So also, in the third volume, Selmann and Tobias -ride off in pursuit of a sentimental adventure, but the latter proves to -be merely a jest of the Captain at the expense of his sentimental -friend. Satire on sentimentalism is further unmistakable in the two -maidens, Adelheid and Kunigunde, who weep over a dead butterfly, and -write a lament over its demise. In jest, too, it is said that the -Captain made a “sentimental journey through the stables.” The author -converses with Ermindus, who seems to be a kind of Eugenius, -a convenient figure for reference, apostrophe, and appeal. The novelist -makes also, like Sterne, mock-pedantic allusions, once indeed making a -long citation from a learned Chinese book. An expression suggesting -Sterne is the oath taken “bey den Nachthemden aller Musen,”[78] and an -intentional inconsequence of narration, giving occasion to conversation -regarding the author’s control of his work, is the sudden passing over -of the six years which Tobias spent in Selmann’s house.[79] - -In connection with Wezel’s occupation with Sterne and Sterne products in -Germany, it is interesting to consider his poem: “Die unvermuthete -Nachbarschaft. Ein Gespräch,” which was the second in a volume of three -poems entitled “Epistel an die deutschen Dichter,” the name of the first -poem, and published in Leipzig in 1775. This slight work is written for -the most part in couplets and covers twenty-three pages. Wezel -represents Doktor Young, the author of the gloomy “Night Thoughts” and -“Der gute Lacher,--Lorenz Sterne” as occupying positions side by side in -his book-case. This proximity gives rise to a conversation between the -two antipodal British authors: Sterne says: - - “Wir brauchen beide vielen Raum, - Your Reverence viel zum Händeringen, - Und meine Wenigkeit, zum Pfeifen, Tanzen, Singen.” - -and later, - - . . . “Und will von Herzen gern der Thor der Thoren seyn; - Jüngst that ich ernst: gleich hielt die - Narrheit mich beym Rocke. - Wo, rief sie, willst du hin,--Du! weisst du unsern Bund. - Ist das der Dank? Du lachtest dich gesund.” - -To Sterne’s further enunciation of this joyous theory of life, Young -naturally replies in characteristic terms, emphasizing life’s -evanescence and joy’s certain blight. But Sterne, though acknowledging -the transitoriness of life’s pleasures, denies Young’s deductions. -Yorick’s conception of death is quite in contrast to Young’s picture and -one must admit that it has no justification in Sterne’s writings. On the -contrary, Yorick’s life was one long flight from the grim enemy. The -idea of death cherished by Asmus in his “Freund Hein,” the welcome -guest, seems rather the conception which Wezel thrusts on Sterne. Death -comes to Yorick in full dress, a youth, a Mercury: - - “Er thuts, er kommt zu mir, ‘Komm, guter Lorenz, flieh!’ - So ruft er auf mich zu. ‘Dein Haus fängt an zu wanken, - Die Mauern spalten sich; Gewölb und Balken schwanken, - Was nuzt dir so ein Haus? . . .’” - -so he takes the wreathèd cup, drinks joyfully, and follows death, -embracing him. - - “Das ist mein Tod, ich sehe keinen Knochen, - Womit du ihn, gleich einem Zahnarzt, schmückst, - Geschieht es heute noch, geschieht’s in wenig Wochen, - Dass du, Gevatter Tod, nur meine Hände drückst? - Ganz nach Bequemlichkeit! du bist mir zwar willkommen.” - -The latter part of the poem contains a rather extended laudation of the -part played by sympathetic feeling in the conduct of life. - -That there would be those in Germany as in England, who saw in Sterne’s -works only a mine of vulgar suggestion, a relation sometimes delicate -and clever, sometimes bald and ugly, of the indelicate and sensual, is a -foregone conclusion. Undoubtedly some found in the general approbation -which was accorded Sterne’s books a sanction for forcing upon the public -the products of their own diseased imaginations. - -This pernicious influence of the English master is exemplified by -Wegener’s “Raritäten, ein hinterlassenes Werk des Küsters von -Rummelsberg.”[80] The first volume is dedicated to “Sebaldus Nothanker,” -and the long document claims for the author unusual distinction, in thus -foregoing the possibility of reward or favor, since he dedicates his -book to a fictitious personage. The idea of the book is to present -“merry observations” for every day in the year. With the end of the -fourth volume the author has reached March 17, and, according to the -_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_, the sixth volume includes May 22. The -present writer was unable to examine the last volume to discover whether -the year was rounded out in this way. - -The author claims to write “neither for surly Catos nor for those fond -of vulgar jests and smutty books,” but for those who will laugh. At the -close of his preface he confesses the source of his inspiration: “In -order to inspire myself with something of the spirit of a Sterne, I made -a decoction out of his writings and drank the same eagerly; indeed I -have burned the finest passages to powder, and then partaken of it with -warm English ale, but”--he had the insight and courtesy to add--“it -helped me just a little as it aids a lame man, if he steps in the -footprints of one who can walk nimbly.” The very nature of this author’s -dependence on Sterne excludes here any extended analysis of the -connection. The style is abrupt, full of affected gaiety and raillery, -conversational and journalistic. The stories, observations and -reflections, in prose and verse, represent one and all the ribaldry of -Sterne at its lowest ebb, as illustrated, for example, by the story of -the abbess of Andouillets, but without the charm and grace with which -that tale begins. The author copies Sterne in the tone of his -lucubrations; the material is drawn from other sources. In the first -volume, at any rate, his only direct indebtedness to Sterne is the -introduction of the Shandean theory of noses in the article for January -11. The pages also, sometimes strewn with stars and dashes, present a -somewhat Sternesque appearance. - -These volumes are reviewed in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[81] -with full appreciation of their pernicious influence, and with open -acknowledgment that their success demonstrates a pervision of taste in -the fatherland. The author of the “Litterarische Reise durch -Deutschland”[82] advises his sister, to whom his letters are directed, -to put her handkerchief before her mouth at the very mention of Wegener, -and fears that the very name has befouled his pen. A similar -condemnation is meted out in Wieland’s _Merkur_.[83] - -A similar commentary on contemporary taste is obtained from a somewhat -similar collection of stories, “Der Geist der Romane im letzten Viertel -des 18ten Jahrhunderts,” Breslau and Hirschberg, 1788, in which the -author (S. G. Preisser?) claims to follow the spirit of the period and -gives six stories of revolting sensuality, with a thin whitewash of -teary sentimentalism. - -The pursuit of references to Yorick and direct appeals to his writings -in the German literary world of the century succeeding the era of his -great popularity would be a monstrous and fruitless task. Such -references in books, letters and periodicals multiply beyond possibility -of systematic study. One might take the works[84] of Friedrich Matthison -as a case in point. He visits the grave of Musäus, even as Tristram -Shandy sought for the resting-place of the two lovers in Lyons (III, -p. 312); as he travels in Italy, he remarks that a certain visit would -have afforded Yorick’s “Empfindsamkeit” the finest material for an -Ash-Wednesday sermon (IV, p. 67). Sterne’s expressions are cited: -“Erdwasserball” for the earth (V, p. 57), “Wo keine Pflanze, die da -nichts zu suchen hatte, eine bleibende Stäte fand” (V, p. 302); two -farmsteads in the Tyrol are designated as “Nach dem Ideal Yoricks” (VI, -pp. 24-25). He refers to the story of the abbess of Andouillets (VI, -64); he narrates (VIII, pp. 203-4) an anecdote of Sterne which has just -been printed in the _Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ (1769, p. 151); he -visits Prof. Levade in Lausanne, who bore a striking resemblance to -Sterne (V, p. 279), and refers to Yorick in other minor regards (VII, -158; VIII, pp. 51, 77, and Briefe II, 76). Yet in spite of this evident -infatuation, Matthison’s account of his own travels cannot be classed as -an imitation of Yorick, but is purely objective, descriptive, without -search for humor or pathos, with no introduction of personalities save -friends and celebrities. Heinse alluded to Sterne frequently in his -letters to Gleim (1770-1771),[85] but after August 23, 1771, Sterne -vanished from his fund of allusion, though the correspondence lasts -until 1802, a fact of significance in dating the German enthusiasm for -Sterne and the German knowledge of Shandy from the publication of the -Sentimental Journey, and likewise an indication of the insecurity of -Yorick’s personal hold. - -Miscellaneous allusions to Sterne, illustrating the magnitude and -duration of his popularity, may not be without interest: Kästner -“Vermischte Schriften,” II, p. 134 (Steckenpferd); Lenz “Gesammelte -Werke,” Berlin, 1828, Vol. III, p. 312; letter from the Duchess Amalie, -August 2, 1779, in “Briefe an und von Merck,” Darmstadt, 1838; letter of -Caroline Herder to Knebel, April 2, 1799, in “K. L. von Knebel’s -Literarischer Nachlass,” Leipzig, 1835, p. 324 (Yorick’s “heiliges -Sensorium”); a rather unfavorable but apologetic criticism of Shandy in -the “Hinterlassene Schriften” of Charlotta Sophia Sidonia Seidelinn, -Nürnberg, 1793, p. 227; “Schiller’s Briefe,” edited by Fritz Jonas, I, -pp. 136, 239; in Hamann’s letters, “Leben und Schriften,” edited by Dr. -C. H. Gildermeister, Gotha, 1875, II, p. 338; III, p. 56; V, pp. 16, -163; in C. L. Jünger’s “Anlage zu einem Familiengespräch über die -Physiognomik” in _Deutsches Museum_, II, pp. 781-809, where the French -barber who proposes to dip Yorick’s wig in the sea is taken as a type of -exaggeration. And a similar reference is found in Wieland’s _Merkur_, -1799, I, p. 15: Yorick’s Sensorium is again cited, _Merkur_, 1791, II, -p. 95. Other references in the _Merkur_ are: 1774, III, p. 52; 1791, I, -p. 418; 1800, I, p. 14; 1804, I, pp. 19-21; _Deutsches Museum_, IV, pp. -66, 462; _Neuer Gelehrter Mercurius_, Altona, 1773, August 19, in review -of Goethe’s “Götz;” _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1771, p. 93. And -thus the references scatter themselves down the decades. “Das Wörtlein -Und,” by F. A. Krummacher (Duisberg und Essen, 1811), bore a motto taken -from the Koran, and contained the story of Uncle Toby and the fly with a -personal application, and Yorick’s division of travelers is copied -bodily and applied to critics. Friedrich Hebbel, probably in 1828, gave -his Newfoundland dog the name of Yorick-Sterne-Monarch.[86] Yorick is -familiarly mentioned in Wilhelm Raabe’s “Chronik der Sperlingsgasse” -(1857), and in Ernst von Wolzogen’s “Der Dornenweg,” two characters -address one another in Yorick similes. Indeed, in the summer of 1902, -a Berlin newspaper was publishing “Eine Empfindsame Reise in einem -Automobile.”[87] - -Musäus is named as an imitator of Sterne by Koberstein, and Erich -Schmidt implies in his “Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe,” that he -followed Sterne in his “Grandison der Zweite,” which could hardly be -possible, for “Grandison der Zweite” was first published in 1760, and -was probably written during 1759, that is, before Sterne had published -Tristram Shandy. Adolph von Knigge is also mentioned by Koberstein as a -follower of Sterne, and Baker includes Knigge’s “Reise nach -Braunschweig” and “Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothringen” in his list. -Their connection with Sterne cannot be designated as other than remote; -the former is a merry vagabond story, reminding one much more of the -tavern and way-faring adventures in Fielding and Smollett, and -suggesting Sterne only in the constant conversation with the reader -about the progress of the book and the mechanism of its construction. -One example of the hobby-horse idea in this narration may perhaps be -traced to Sterne. The “Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothringen” has even -less connection; it shares only in the increase of interest in personal -accounts of travel. Knigge’s novels, “Peter Claus” and “Der Roman meines -Lebens,” are decidedly not imitations of Sterne; a clue to the character -of the former may be obtained from the fact that it was translated into -English as “The German Gil Blas.” “Der Roman meines Lebens” is a typical -eighteenth century love-story written in letters, with numerous -characters, various intrigues and unexpected adventures; indeed, a part -of the plot, involving the abduction of one of the characters, reminds -one of “Clarissa Harlowe.” Sterne is, however, incidentally mentioned in -both books, is quoted in “Peter Claus” (Chapter VI, Vol. II), and Walter -Shandy’s theory of Christian names is cited in “Der Roman meines -Lebens.”[88] That Knigge had no sympathy with exaggerated sentimentalism -is seen in a passage in his “Umgang mit Menschen.”[89] Knigge admired -and appreciated the real Sterne and speaks in his “Ueber Schriftsteller -und Schriftstellerei”[90] of Yorick’s sharpening observation regarding -the little but yet important traits of character. - -Moritz August von Thümmel in his famous “Reise in die mittäglichen -Provinzen von Frankreich” adopted Sterne’s general idea of sentimental -journeying, shorn largely of the capriciousness and whimsicality which -marked Sterne’s pilgrimage. He followed Sterne also in driving the -sensuous to the borderland of the sensual. - -Hippel’s novels, “Lebensläufe nach aufsteigender Linie” and “Kreuz und -Querzüge des Ritters A. bis Z.” were purely Shandean products in which a -humor unmistakably imitated from Sterne struggles rather unsuccessfully -with pedagogical seriousness. Jean Paul was undoubtedly indebted to -Sterne for a part of his literary equipment, and his works afford proof -both of his occupation with Sterne’s writings and its effect upon his -own. A study of Hippel’s “Lebensläufe” in connection with both Sterne -and Jean Paul was suggested but a few years after Hippel’s death by a -reviewer in the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[91] as a -fruitful topic for investigation. A detailed, minute study of von -Thümmel, Hippel and Jean Paul[92] in connection with the English master -is purposed as a continuation of the present essay. Heine’s pictures of -travel, too, have something of Sterne in them. - - - [Footnote 1: _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, p. 27.] - - [Footnote 2: Jacobi remarked, in his preface to the “Winterreise” - in the edition of 1807, that this section, “Der Taubenschlag” is - not to be reckoned as bearing the trace of the then condemned - “Empfindeley,” for many authors, ancient and modern, have taken up - the cause of animals against man; yet Sterne is probably the - source of Jacobi’s expression of his feeling.] - - [Footnote 3: XI, 2, pp. 16 f.] - - [Footnote 4: For reviews of the “Sommerreise” see _Allg. deutsche - Bibl._, XIII, i, p. 261, _Deutsche Bibl. der schönen - Wissenschaften_, IV, p. 354, and _Neue Critische Nachrichten_, - Greifswald, V, p. 406. _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1770, - p. 112. The “Winterreise” is also reviewed there, p. 110.] - - [Footnote 5: Some minor points may be noted. Longo implies - (page 2) that it was Bode’s translation of the original - Sentimental Journey which was re-issued in four volumes, Hamburg - and Bremen, 1769, whereas the edition was practically identical - with the previous one, and the two added volumes were those of - Stevenson’s continuation. Longo calls Sterne’s Eliza “Elisha” - (p. 28) and Tristram’s father becomes Sir Walter Shandy (p. 37), - an unwarranted exaltation of the retired merchant.] - - [Footnote 6: Review in the _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_] - - [Footnote 7: I, pp. 314 + 20; II, 337; III. 330.] - - [Footnote 8: I, p. 156; III, p. 318.] - - [Footnote 9: Schummel states this himself, III, p. 320.] - - [Footnote 10: Tristram Shandy, III, 51-54.] - - [Footnote 11: Pp. 256-265.] - - [Footnote 12: P. 34.] - - [Footnote 13: Shandy, I, p. 75; Schummel, I, p. 265.] - - [Footnote 14: II, p. 117.] - - [Footnote 15: In “Das Kapitel von meiner Lebensart,” II, pp. - 113 ff.] - - [Footnote 16: XVI, 2, pp. 682-689.] - - [Footnote 17: The third part is reviewed (Hr) in XIX, 2, pp. - 576-7, but without significant contribution to the question.] - - [Footnote 18: I, 2, pp. 66-74, the second number of 1772. Review - is signed “S.”] - - [Footnote 19: Another review of Schummel’s book is found in the - _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1773, p. 106.] - - [Footnote 20: XI, 2, p. 344; XV, 1, p. 249; XVII, 1, p. 244. Also - entitled “Begebenheiten des Herrn Redlich,” the novel was - published Wittenberg, 1756-71; Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1768-71.] - - [Footnote 21: XXVIII, 1, pp. 199 ff. Reviewed also in _Auserlesene - Bibliothek der neusten deutschen Litteratur_, Lemgo, VII, p. 234 - (1775) and _Neue litterarische Unterhaltungen_, Breslau, I, pp. - 660-691.] - - [Footnote 22: Leipzig, Crusius, 1776, pp. 120. Baker, influenced - by title and authorship, includes it among the literary progeny of - Yorick. It has no connection with Sterne.] - - [Footnote 23: See _Jahresberichte für neuere deutsche - Litteratur-geschichte_, II, p. 106 (1893).] - - [Footnote 24: Breslau, 1792. It is included in Baker’s list.] - - [Footnote 25: Frankfurt and Leipzig, pp. 208. Baker regards these - two editions as two different works.] - - [Footnote 26: Sentimental Journey, pp. 87-88.] - - [Footnote 27: Sentimental Journey, p. 73.] - - [Footnote 28: Pp. 45-50.] - - [Footnote 29: Pp. 106-119.] - - [Footnote 30: Die Gesellschafterin, pp. 131-144.] - - [Footnote 31: Pp. 145-155.] - - [Footnote 32: Die Dame, pp. 120-130.] - - [Footnote 33: V, St. 2, p. 371.] - - [Footnote 34: Anhang to XIII-XXIV, Vol. II, p. 1151.] - - [Footnote 35: Letter to Raspe, Göttingen, June 2, 1770, in - _Weimarisches Jahrbuch_, III, p. 28.] - - [Footnote 36: _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, April 27, 1773, pp. 276-8.] - - [Footnote 37: _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_, - December 31, 1771.] - - [Footnote 38: Other reviews are (2) and (3), _Frankfurter gel. - Anz._, November 27, 1772; (2) and (3), _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, - XIX, 2, p. 579 (Musäus) and XXIV, 1, p. 287; of the series, _Neue - Critische Nachrichten_ (Greifswald), IX, p. 152. There is a rather - full analysis of (1) in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1773, pp. 276-8, - April 27. According to Wittenberg in the _Altonaer - Reichs-Postreuter_ (June 21, 1773), Holfrath Deinet was the author - of this review. A sentimental episode from these “Journeys” was - made the subject of a play called “Der Greis” and produced at - Munich in 1774. (See _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXII, 2, p. 466).] - - [Footnote 39: Berlin, 1873.] - - [Footnote 40: _Deutsches Museum_, VI, p. 384, and VII, p. 220.] - - [Footnote 41: Reval und Leipzig, 1788, 2d edition, 1792, and - published in “Kleine gesammelte Schriften,” Reval und Leipzig, - 1789, Vol. III, pp. 131-292. Reviewed in _Allg. Litt.-Zeitung_, - 1789, II, p. 736.] - - [Footnote 42: Leipzig, 1793, pp. 224, 8vo, by Georg Joachim - Göschen.] - - [Footnote 43: See the account of Ulm, and of Lindau near the end - of the volume.] - - [Footnote 44: See pp. 21-22 and 105.] - - [Footnote 45: “Geschichte der komischen Literatur,” III, p. 625.] - - [Footnote 46: See “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Schiller,” - edited by Boxberger. Stuttgart, Spemann, Vol. I, p. 118.] - - [Footnote 47: It is to be noted also that von Thümmel’s first - servant bears the name Johann.] - - [Footnote 48: “Charis oder über das Schöne und die Schönheit in - den bildenden Künsten” by Ramdohr, Leipzig, 1793.] - - [Footnote 49: “Schiller’s Briefe,” edited by Fritz Jonas, III, - pp. 316, 319. Letters of June 6 and June 23 (?), 1793.] - - [Footnote 50: “Briefe von Christian Garve an Chr. Felix Weisse, - und einige andern Freunde,” Breslau, 1803, p. 189-190. The book - was reviewed favorably by the _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1794, IV, - p. 513.] - - [Footnote 51: Falkenburg, 1796, pp. 110. Goedeke gives Bremen as - place of publication.] - - [Footnote 52: Ebeling, III, p. 625, gives Hademann as author, and - Fallenburg--both probably misprints.] - - [Footnote 53: The review is of “Auch Vetter Heinrich hat Launen, - von G. L. B., Frankfurt-am-Main, 1796”--a book evidently called - into being by a translation of selections from “Les Lunes du - Cousin Jacques.” Jünger was the translator. The original is the - work of Beffroy de Regny.] - - [Footnote 54: Hedemann’s book is reviewed indifferently in the - _Allg. Litt. Zeitung._ (Jena, 1798, I, p. 173.)] - - [Footnote 55: Von Rabenau wrote also “Hans Kiekindiewelts Reise” - (Leipzig, 1794), which Ebeling (III, p. 623) condemns as “the most - commonplace imitation of the most ordinary kind of the comic.”] - - [Footnote 56: It is also reviewed by Musäus in the _Allg. deutsche - Bibl._, XIX, 2, p. 579.] - - [Footnote 57: The same opinion is expressed in the _Jenaische - Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, 1776, p. 465. See also - Schwinger’s study of “Sebaldus Nothanker,” pp. 248-251; Ebeling, - p. 584; _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXII, 1, p. 141.] - - [Footnote 58: Leipzig and Liegnitz, 1775.] - - [Footnote 59: The _Leipziger Museum Almanach_, 1776, pp. 69-70, - agrees in this view.] - - [Footnote 60: XXIX, 2, p. 507.] - - [Footnote 61: 1776, I, p. 272.] - - [Footnote 62: An allusion to an episode of the “Sommerreise.”] - - [Footnote 63: “Sophie von la Roche,” Göttinger Dissertation, - Einbeck, 1895.] - - [Footnote 64: _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XLVII, 1, p. 435; LII, 1, - p. 148, and _Anhang_, XXIV-XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 903-908.] - - [Footnote 65: The quotation is really from the spurious ninth - volume in Zückert’s translation.] - - [Footnote 66: For these references to the snuff-box, see pp. 53, - 132-3, 303 and 314.] - - [Footnote 67: In “Sommerreise.”] - - [Footnote 68: Other examples are found pp. 57, 90, 255, 270, 209, - 312, 390, and elsewhere.] - - [Footnote 69: See _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen - Litteratur_, VII, p. 399; _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1775, - p. 75; _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, III, 1, p. 174; - _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, _July_ 1, 1774; _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, - XXVI, 2, 487; _Teut. Merkur_, VI, p. 353; _Gothaische Gelehrte - Zeitungen_, 1774, I, p. 17.] - - [Footnote 70: Leipzig, 1773-76, 4 vols. “Tobias Knaut” was at - first ascribed to Wieland.] - - [Footnote 71: Gervinus, V, pp. 225 ff.; Ebeling, III, p. 568; - Hillebrand, II, p. 537; Kurz, III, p. 504; Koberstein, IV, pp. - 168 f. and V, pp. 94 f.] - - [Footnote 72: The “_Magazin der deutschen Critik_” denied the - imitation altogether.] - - [Footnote 73: I, p. 178.] - - [Footnote 74: I, p. 117.] - - [Footnote 75: I, pp. 148 ff.] - - [Footnote 76: I, p. 17.] - - [Footnote 77: III, pp. 99-104.] - - [Footnote 78: II, p. 44.] - - [Footnote 79: For reviews of “Tobias Knaut” see _Gothaische - Gelehrte Zeitung_, April 13, 1774, pp. 193-5; _Magazin der - deutschen Critik_, III, 1, p. 185 (1774); _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, - April 5, 1774, pp. 228-30; _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1775, - p. 75; _Leipziger Musen-Almanach_, 1776, pp. 68-69; _Allg. - deutsche Bibl._, XXX, 2, pp. 524 ff., by Biester; _Teut. Merkur_, - V, pp. 344-5; VII, p. 361-2, 1776, pp. 272-3, by Merck.] - - [Footnote 80: Berlin, nine parts, 1775-1785. Vol I, pp. 128 - (1775); Vol. II, pp. 122; Vol. III, pp. 141; Vol. IV, pp. 198 - (1779); Vols. V and VI, 1780; Vols. I and II were published in a - new edition in 1778, and Vol. III in 1780 (a third edition).] - - [Footnote 81: XXIX, 1, p. 186; XXXVI, 2, p. 601; XLIII, 1, p. 301; - XLVI, 2, p. 602; LXII, 1, p. 307.] - - [Footnote 82: See p. 8.] - - [Footnote 83: 1777, II, p. 278, review of Vols. II and III. Vol. - I is reviewed in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1775, p. 719-20 (October - 31), and IX in _Allg. Litt.-Zeitung_, Jena, 1785, V, - Supplement-Band, p. 80.] - - [Footnote 84: See p. 89.] - - [Footnote 85: Briefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleims Nachlass. - (Zürich, 1806.)] - - [Footnote 86: Emil Kuh’s life of Hebbel, Wien, 1877, I, - p. 117-118.] - - [Footnote 87: The “Empfindsame Reise der Prinzessin Ananas nach - Gros-glogau” (Riez, 1798, pp. 68, by Gräfin Lichterau?) in its - revolting loathesomeness and satirical meanness is an example of - the vulgarity which could parade under the name. In 1801 we find - “Prisen aus der hörneren Dose des gesunden Menschenverstandes,” - a series of letters of advice from father to son. A play of - Stephanie the younger, “Der Eigensinnige,” produced January 29, - 1774, is said to have connection with Tristram Shandy; if so, it - would seem to be the sole example of direct adaptation from Sterne - to the German stage. “Neue Schauspiele.” Pressburg and Leipzig, - 1771-75, Vol. X.] - - [Footnote 88: P. 185, edition of 1805.] - - [Footnote 89: See below p. 166-7.] - - [Footnote 90: Hannover, 1792, pp. 80, 263.] - - [Footnote 91: LXVI, p. 79, 1801.] - - [Footnote 92: Sometime after the completion of this present essay - there was published in Berlin, a study of “Sterne, Hippel and Jean - Paul,” by J. Czerny (1904). I have not yet had an opportunity to - examine it.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -OPPOSITION TO STERNE AND HIS TYPE OF SENTIMENTALISM - - -Sterne’s influence in Germany lived its own life, and gradually and -imperceptibly died out of letters, as an actuating principle. Yet its -dominion was not achieved without some measure of opposition. The -sweeping condemnation which the soberer critics heaped upon the -incapacities of his imitators has been exemplified in the accounts -already given of Schummel, Bock and others. It would be interesting to -follow a little more closely this current of antagonism. The tone of -protest was largely directed, the edge of satire was chiefly whetted, -against the misunderstanding adaptation of Yorick’s ways of thinking and -writing, and only here and there were voices raised to detract in any -way from the genius of Sterne. He never suffered in Germany such an -eclipse of fame as was his fate in England. He was to the end of the -chapter a recognized prophet, an uplifter and leader. The far-seeing, -clear-minded critics, as Lessing, Goethe and Herder, expressed -themselves quite unequivocally in this regard, and there was later no -withdrawal of former appreciation. Indeed, Goethe’s significant words -already quoted came from the last years of his life, when the new -century had learned to smile almost incredulously at the relation of a -bygone folly. - -In the very heyday of Sterne’s popularity, 1772, a critic of Wieland’s -“Diogenes” in the _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen -Litteratur_[1] bewails Wieland’s imitation of Yorick, whom the critic -deems a far inferior writer, “Sterne, whose works will disappear, while -Wieland’s masterpieces are still the pleasure of latest posterity.” This -review of “Diogenes” is, perhaps, rather more an exaggerated compliment -to Wieland than a studied blow at Sterne, and this thought is recognized -by the reviewer in the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_,[2] who -designates the compliment as “dubious” and “insulting,” especially in -view of Wieland’s own personal esteem for Sterne. Yet these words, even -as a relative depreciation of Sterne during the period of his most -universal popularity, are not insignificant. Heinrich Leopold Wagner, -a tutor at Saarbrücken, in 1770, records that one member of a reading -club which he had founded “regarded his taste as insulted because I sent -him “Yorick’s Empfindsame Reise.”[3] But Wagner regarded this instance -as a proof of Saarbrücken ignorance, stupidity and lack of taste; hence -the incident is but a wavering testimony when one seeks to determine the -amount and nature of opposition to Yorick. - -We find another derogatory fling at Sterne himself and a regret at the -extent of his influence in an anonymous book entitled “Betrachtungen -über die englischen Dichter,”[4] published at the end of the great -Yorick decade. The author compares Sterne most unfavorably with Addison: -“If the humor of the _Spectator_ and _Tatler_ be set off against the -digressive whimsicality of Sterne,” he says, “it is, as if one of the -Graces stood beside a Bacchante. And yet the pampered taste of the -present day takes more pleasure in a Yorick than in an Addison.” But a -reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[5] discounts this -author’s criticisms of men of established fame, such as Shakespeare, -Swift, Yorick, and suggests youth, or brief acquaintance with English -literature, as occasion for his inadequate judgments. Indeed, Yorick -disciples were quick to resent any shadow cast upon his name. Thus the -remark in a letter printed in the _Deutsches Museum_ that Asmus was the -German Yorick “only a better moral character,” called forth a long -article in the same periodical for September, 1779, by L. H. N.,[6] -vigorously defending Sterne as a man and a writer. The greatness of his -human heart and the breadth and depth of his sympathies are given as the -unanswerable proofs of his moral worth. This defense is vehemently -seconded in the same magazine by Joseph von Retzer. - -The one great opponent of the whole sentimental tendency, whose censure -of Sterne’s disciples involved also a denunciation of the master -himself, was the Göttingen professor, Georg Christopher Lichtenberg.[7] -In his inner nature Lichtenberg had much in common with Sterne and -Sterne’s imitators in Germany, with the whole ecstatic, eccentric -movement of the time. Julian Schmidt[8] says: “So much is sure, at any -rate, that the greatest adversary of the new literature was of one flesh -and blood with it.”[9] But his period of residence in England shortly -after Sterne’s death and his association then and afterwards with -Englishmen of eminence render his attitude toward Sterne in large -measure an English one, and make an idealization either of the man or of -his work impossible for him. - -The contradiction between the greatness of heart evinced in Sterne’s -novels and the narrow selfishness of the author himself is repeatedly -noted by Lichtenberg. His knowledge of Sterne’s character was derived -from acquaintance with many of Yorick’s intimate friends in London. In -“Beobachtungen über den Menschen,” he says: “I can’t help smiling when -the good souls who read Sterne with tears of rapture in their eyes fancy -that he is mirroring himself in his book. Sterne’s simplicity, his warm -heart, over-flowing with feeling, his soul, sympathizing with everything -good and noble, and all the other expressions, whatever they may be; and -the sigh ‘Alas, poor Yorick,’ which expresses everything at once--have -become proverbial among us Germans. . . . Yorick was a crawling -parasite, a flatterer of the great, an unendurable burr on the clothing -of those upon whom he had determined to sponge!”[10] - -In “Timorus” he calls Sterne “ein scandalum Ecclesiae”;[11] he doubts -the reality of Sterne’s nobler emotions and condemns him as a clever -juggler with words, who by artful manipulation of certain devices -aroused in us sympathy, and he snatches away the mask of loving, hearty -sympathy and discloses the grinning mountebank. With keen insight into -Sterne’s mind and method, he lays down a law by which, he says, it is -always possible to discover whether the author of a touching passage has -really been moved himself, or has merely with astute knowledge of the -human heart drawn our tears by a sly choice of touching features.[12] - -Akin to this is the following passage in which the author is -unquestionably thinking of Sterne, although he does not mention him: -“A heart ever full of kindly feeling is the greatest gift which Heaven -can bestow; on the other hand, the itching to keep scribbling about it, -and to fancy oneself great in this scribbling is one of the greatest -punishments which can be inflicted upon one who writes.”[13] He exposes -the heartlessness of Sterne’s pretended sympathy: “A three groschen -piece is ever better than a tear,”[14] and “sympathy is a poor kind of -alms-giving,”[15] are obviously thoughts suggested by Yorick’s -sentimentalism.[16] - -The folly of the “Lorenzodosen” is several times mentioned with open or -covert ridicule[17] and the imitators of Sterne are repeatedly told the -fruitlessness of their endeavor and the absurdity of their -accomplishment.[18] His “Vorschlag zu einem Orbis Pictus für deutsche -dramatische Schriftsteller, Romanendichter und Schauspieler”[19] is a -satire on the lack of originality among those who boasted of it, and -sought to win attention through pure eccentricities. - -The Fragments[20] are concerned, as the editors say, with an evil of the -literature in those days, the period of the Sentimentalists and the -“Kraftgenies.” Among the seven fragments may be noted: “Lorenzo -Eschenheimers empfindsame Reise nach Laputa,” a clever satirical sketch -in the manner of Swift, bitterly castigating that of which the English -people claim to be the discoverers (sentimental journeying) and the -Germans think themselves the improvers. In “Bittschrift der -Wahnsinnigen” and “Parakletor” the unwholesome literary tendencies of -the age are further satirized. His brief essay, “Ueber die -Vornamen,”[21] is confessedly suggested by Sterne and the sketch “Dass -du auf dem Blockberg wärst,”[22] with its mention of the green book -entitled “Echte deutsche Flüche und Verwünschungen für alle Stände,” is -manifestly to be connected in its genesis with Sterne’s famous -collection of oaths.[23] Lichtenberg’s comparison of Sterne and Fielding -is familiar and significant.[24] “Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass: Aufsätze, -Gedichte, Tagebuchblätter, Briefe,” edited by Albert Leitzmann,[25] -contains additional mention of Sterne. - -The name of Helfreich Peter Sturz may well be coupled with that of -Lichtenberg, as an opponent of the Sterne cult and its German -distortions, for his information and point of view were likewise drawn -direct from English sources. Sturz accompanied King Christian VII of -Denmark on his journey to France and England, which lasted from May 6, -1768, to January 14, 1769[26]; hence his stay in England falls in a time -but a few months after Sterne’s death (March 18, 1768), when the -ungrateful metropolis was yet redolent of the late lion’s wit and humor. -Sturz was an accomplished linguist and a complete master of English, -hence found it easy to associate with Englishmen of distinction whom he -was privileged to meet through the favor of his royal patron. He became -acquainted with Garrick, who was one of Sterne’s intimate friends, and -from him Sturz learned much of Yorick, especially that more wholesome -revulsion of feeling against Sterne’s obscenities and looseness of -speech, which set in on English soil as soon as the potent personality -of the author himself had ceased to compel silence and blind opinion. -England began to wonder at its own infatuation, and, gaining -perspective, to view the writings of Sterne in a more rational light. -Into the first spread of this reaction Sturz was introduced, and the -estimate of Sterne which he carried away with him was undoubtedly - by it. In his second letter written to the _Deutsches Museum_ -and dated August 24, 1768, but strangely not printed till April, -1777,[27] he quotes Garrick with reference to Sterne, a notable word of -personal censure, coming in the Germany of that decade, when Yorick’s -admirers were most vehement in their claims. Garrick called him “a lewd -companion, who was more loose in his intercourse than in his writings -and generally drove all ladies away by his obscenities.”[28] Sturz adds -that all his acquaintances asserted that Sterne’s moral character went -through a process of disintegration in London. - -In the _Deutsches Museum_ for July, 1776, Sturz printed a poem entitled -“Die Mode,” in which he treats of the slavery of fashion and in several -stanzas deprecates the influence of Yorick.[29] - - “Und so schwingt sich, zum Genie erklärt, - Strephon kühn auf Yorick’s Steckenpferd. - Trabt mäandrisch über Berg und Auen, - Reist empfindsam durch sein Dorfgebiet, - Oder singt die Jugend zu erbauen - Ganz Gefühl dem Gartengott ein Lied. - Gott der Gärten, stöhnt die Bürgerin, - Lächle gütig, Rasen und Schasmin - Haucht Gerüche! Fliehet Handlungssorgen, - Dass mein Liebster heute noch in Ruh - Sein Mark-Einsaz-Lomber spiele--Morgen, - Schliessen wir die Unglücksbude zu!” - -A passage at the end of the appendix to the twelfth Reisebrief is -further indication of his opposition to and his contempt for the frenzy -of German sentimentalism. - -The poems of Goeckingk contain allusions[30] to Sterne, to be sure -partly indistinctive and insignificant, which, however, tend in the main -to a ridicule of the Yorick cult and place their author ultimately among -the satirical opponents of sentimentalism. In the “Epistel an Goldhagen -in Petershage,” 1771, he writes: - - “Doch geb ich wohl zu überlegen, - Was für den Weisen besser sey: - Die Welt wie Yorick mit zu nehmen? - Nach Königen, wie Diogen, - Sich keinen Fuss breit zu bequemen,”-- - -a query which suggests the hesitant point of view relative to the -advantage of Yorick’s excess of universal sympathy. In “Will auch ’n -Genie werden” the poet steps out more unmistakably as an adversary of -the movement and as a skeptical observer of the exercise of Yorick-like -sympathy. - - “Doch, ich Patronus, merkt das wohl, - Geh, im zerrissnen Kittel, - Hab’ aber alle Taschen voll - Yorickischer Capittel. - Doch lass’ ich, wenn mir’s Kurzweil schafft, - Die Hülfe fleh’nden Armen - Durch meinen Schweitzer, Peter Kraft, - Zerprügeln ohn’ Erbarmen.” - -Goeckingk openly satirizes the sentimental cult in the poem “Der -Empfindsame” - - “Herr Mops, der um das dritte Wort - Empfindsamkeit im Munde führet, - Und wenn ein Grashalm ihm verdorrt, - Gleich einen Thränenstrom verlieret-- - . . . . . . . . - Mit meinem Weibchen thut er schier - Gleich so bekannt wie ein Franzose; - All’ Augenblicke bot er ihr - Toback aus eines Bettlers Dose - Mit dem, am Zaun in tiefem Schlaf - Er einen Tausch wie Yorik traf. - Der Unempfindsamkeit zum Hohn - Hielt er auf eine Mück’ im Glase - Beweglich einen Leichsermon, - Purrt’ eine Flieg’ ihm an der Nase, - Macht’ er das Fenster auf, und sprach: - Zieh Oheim Toby’s Fliege nach! - Durch Mops ist warlich meine Magd - Nicht mehr bey Trost, nicht mehr bey Sinnen - So sehr hat ihr sein Lob behagt, - Dass sie empfindsam allen Spinnen - Zu meinem Hause, frank und frey - Verstattet ihre Weberey. - Er trat mein Hündchen auf das Bein, - Hilf Himmel! Welch’ ein Lamentiren! - Es hätte mögen einen Stein - Der Strasse zum Erbarmen rühren, - Auch wedelt’ ihm in einem Nu - Das Hündgen schon Vergebung zu. - Ach! Hündchen, du beschämst mich sehr, - Denn dass mir Mops von meinem Leben - Drey Stunden stahl, wie schwer, wie schwer, - Wird’s halten, das ihm zu vergeben? - Denn Spinnen werden oben ein - Wohl gar noch meine Mörder seyn.” - -This poem is a rather successful bit of ridicule cast on the -over-sentimental who sought to follow Yorick’s foot-prints. - -The other allusions to Sterne[31] are concerned with his hobby-horse -idea, for this seems to gain the poet’s approbation and to have no share -in his censure. - -The dangers of overwrought sentimentality, of heedless surrender to the -emotions and reveling in their exercise,--perils to whose magnitude -Sterne so largely contributed--were grasped by saner minds, and -energetic protest was entered against such degradation of mind and -futile expenditure of feeling. - -Joachim Heinrich Campe, the pedagogical theorist, published in 1779[32] -a brochure, “Ueber Empfindsamkeit und Empfindelei in pädagogischer -Hinsicht,” in which he deprecates the tendency of “Empfindsamkeit” to -degenerate into “Empfindelei,” and explains at some length the -deleterious effects of an unbridled “Empfindsamkeit” and an unrestrained -outpouring of sympathetic emotions which finds no actual expression, no -relief in deeds. The substance of this warning essay is repeated, often -word for word, but considerably amplified with new material, and -rendered more convincing by increased breadth of outlook and -positiveness of assertion, the fruit of six years of observation and -reflection, as part of a treatise, entitled, “Von der nöthigen Sorge für -die Erhaltung des Gleichgewichts unter den menschlichen Kräften: -Besondere Warnung vor dem Modefehler die Empfindsamkeit zu überspannen.” -It is in the third volume of the “Allgemeine Revision des gesammten -Schul- und Erziehungswesens.”[33] The differentiation between -“Empfindsamkeit” and “Empfindelei” is again and more accessibly repeated -in Campe’s later work, “Ueber die Reinigung und Bereicherung der -deutschen Sprache.”[34] In the second form of this essay (1785) Campe -speaks of the sentimental fever as an epidemic by no means entirely -cured. - -His analysis of “Empfindsamkeit” is briefly as follows: “Empfindsamkeit -ist die Empfänglichkeit zu Empfindnissen, in denen etwas Sittliches d.i. -Freude oder Schmerz über etwas sittlich Gutes oder sittlich Böses, ist;” -yet in common use the term is applied only to a certain high degree of -such susceptibility. This sensitiveness is either in harmony or discord -with the other powers of the body, especially with the reason: if -equilibrium is maintained, this sensitiveness is a fair, worthy, -beneficent capacity (Fähigkeit); if exalted over other forces, it -becomes to the individual and to society the most destructive and -baneful gift which refinement and culture may bestow. Campe proposes to -limit the use of the word “Empfindsamkeit” to the justly proportioned -manifestation of this susceptibility; the irrational, exaggerated -development he would designate “überspannte Empfindsamkeit.” -“Empfindelei,” he says, “ist Empfindsamkeit, die sich auf eine -kleinliche alberne, vernunftlose und lächerliche Weise, also da äussert, -wo sie nicht hingehörte.” Campe goes yet further in his distinctions and -invents the monstrous word, “Empfindsamlichkeit” for the sentimentality -which is superficial, affected, sham (geheuchelte). Campe’s newly coined -word was never accepted, and in spite of his own efforts and those of -others to honor the word “Empfindsamkeit” and restrict it to the -commendable exercise of human sympathy, the opposite process was -victorious and “Empfindsamkeit,” maligned and scorned, came to mean -almost exclusively, unless distinctly modified, both what Campe -designates as “überspannte Empfindsamkeit” and “Empfindelei,” and also -the absurd hypocrisy of the emotions which he seeks to cover with his -new word. Campe’s farther consideration contains a synopsis of method -for distinguishing “Empfindsamkeit” from “Empfindelei:” in the first -place through the manner of their incitement,--the former is natural, -the latter is fantastic, working without sense of the natural properties -of things. In this connection he instances as examples, Yorick’s feeling -of shame after his heartless and wilful treatment of Father Lorenzo, -and, in contrast with this, the shallowness of Sterne’s imitators who -whimpered over the death of a violet, and stretched out their arms and -threw kisses to the moon and stars. In the second place they are -distinguished in the manner of their expression: “Empfindsamkeit” is -“secret, unpretentious, laconic and serious;” the latter attracts -attention, is theatrical, voluble, whining, vain. Thirdly, they are -known by their fruits, in the one case by deeds, in the other by shallow -pretension. In the latter part of his volume, Campe treats the problem -of preventing the perverted form of sensibility by educative endeavor. - -The word “Empfindsamkeit” was afterwards used sometimes simply as an -equivalent of “Empfindung,” or sensation, without implication of the -manner of sensing: for example one finds in the _Morgenblatt_[35] a poem -named “Empfindsamkeiten am Rheinfalle vom Felsen der Galerie -abgeschrieben.” In the poem various travelers are made to express their -thoughts in view of the waterfall. A poet cries, “Ye gods, what a hell -of waters;” a tradesman, “away with the rock;” a Briton complains of the -“confounded noise,” and so on. It is plain that the word suffered a -generalization of meaning. - -A poetical expression of Campe’s main message is found in a book called -“Winterzeitvertreib eines königlichen preussischen Offiziers.”[36] -A poem entitled “Das empfindsame Herz” (p. 210) has the following lines: - - “Freund, ein empfindsames Herz ist nicht für diese Welt, - Von Schelmen wird’s verlacht, von Thoren wirds geprellt, - Doch üb’ im Stillen das, was seine Stimme spricht. - Dein Lohn ist dir gewiss, nur hier auf Erden nicht.” - -In a similar vein of protest is the letter of G. Hartmann[37] to Denis, -dated Tübingen, February 10, 1773, in which the writer condemns the -affected sentimentalism of Jacobi and others as damaging to morals. -“O best teacher,” he pleads with Denis, “continue to represent these -performances as unworthy.” - -Möser in his “Patriotische Phantasien”[38] represents himself as -replying to a maid-in-waiting who writes in distress about her young -mistress, because the latter is suffering from “epidemic” -sentimentalism, and is absurdly unreasonable in her practical incapacity -and her surrender to her feelings. Möser’s sound advice is the -substitution of genuine emotion. The whole section is entitled “Für die -Empfindsamen.” - -Knigge, in his “Umgang mit Menschen,” plainly has those Germans in mind -who saw in Uncle Toby’s treatment of the fly an incentive to -unreasonable emphasis upon the relations between man and the animal -world, when, in the chapter on the treatment of animals, he protests -against the silly, childish enthusiasm of those who cannot see a hen -killed, but partake of fowl greedily on the table, or who passionately -open the window for a fly.[39] A work was also translated from the -French of Mistelet, which dealt with the problem of “Empfindsamkeit:” -it was entitled “Ueber die Empfindsamkeit in Rücksicht auf das Drama, -die Romane und die Erziehung.”[40] An article condemning exaggerated -sentimentality was published in the _Deutsches Museum_ for February, -1783, under the title “Etwas über deutsche Empfindsamkeit.” - -Goethe’s “Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit” is a merry satire on the -sentimental movement, but is not to be connected directly with Sterne, -since Goethe is more particularly concerned with the petty imitators of -his own “Werther.” Baumgartner in his Life of Goethe asserts that -Sterne’s Sentimental Journey was one of the books found inside the -ridiculous doll which the love-sick Prince Oronaro took about with him. -This is not a necessary interpretation, for Andrason, when he took up -the first book, exclaimed merely “Empfindsamkeiten,” and, as Strehlke -observes,[41] it is not necessary here to think of a single work, -because the term was probably used in a general way, referring possibly -to a number of then popular imitations. - -The satires on “Empfindsamkeit” began to grow numerous at the end of the -seventies and the beginning of the eighties, so that the _Allgemeine -Litteratur-Zeitung_, in October, 1785, feels justified in remarking that -such attempts are gradually growing as numerous as the “Empfindsame -Romane” themselves, and wishes, “so may they rot together in a -grave of oblivion.”[42] Anton Reiser, the hero of Karl Philipp -Moritz’sautobiographical novel (Berlin, 1785-90), begins a satire on -affected sentimentalism, which was to bring shafts of ridicule to bear -on the popular sham, and to throw appreciative light on the real -manifestation of genuine feeling.[43] A kindred satire was “Die -Geschichte eines Genies,” Leipzig, 1780, two volumes, in which the -prevailing fashion of digression is incidentally satirized.[44] - -The most extensive satire on the sentimental movement, and most vehement -protest against its excesses is the four volume novel, “Der -Empfindsame,”[45] published anonymously in Erfurt, 1781-3, but -acknowledged in the introduction to the fourth volume by its author, -Christian Friedrich Timme. He had already published one novel in which -he exemplified in some measure characteristics of the novelists whom he -later sought to condemn and satirize, that is, this first novel, -“Faramond’s Familiengeschichte,”[46] is digressive and episodical. “Der -Empfindsame” is much too bulky to be really effective as a satire; the -reiteration of satirical jibes, the repetition of satirical motifs -slightly varied, or thinly veiled, recoil upon the force of the work -itself and injure the effect. The maintenance of a single satire through -the thirteen to fourteen hundred pages which four such volumes contain -is a Herculean task which we can associate only with a genius like -Cervantes. Then, too, Timme is an excellent narrator, and his original -purpose is constantly obscured by his own interest and the reader’s -interest in Timme’s own story, in his original creations, in the variety -of his characters. These obtrude upon the original aim of the book and -absorb the action of the story in such a measure that Timme often for -whole chapters and sections seems to forget entirely the convention of -his outsetting. - -His attack is threefold, the centers of his opposition being “Werther,” -“Siegwart” and Sterne, as represented by their followers and imitators. -But the campaign is so simple, and the satirist has been to such trouble -to label with care the direction of his own blows, that it is not -difficult to separate the thrusts intended for each of his foes. - -Timme’s initial purpose is easily illustrated by reference to his first -chapter, where his point of view is compactly put and the soundness of -his critical judgment and the forcefulness of his satirical bent are -unequivocally demonstrated: This chapter, which, as he says, “may serve -instead of preface and introduction,” is really both, for the narrative -really begins only in the second chapter. “Every nation, every age,” -he says, “has its own doll as a plaything for its children, and -sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit) is ours.” Then with lightness and grace, -coupled with unquestionable critical acumen, he traces briefly the -growth of “Empfindsamkeit” in Germany. “Kaum war der liebenswürdige -Sterne auf sein Steckenpferd gestiegen, und hatte es uns vorgeritten; -so versammelten sich wie gewöhnlich in Teutschland alle Jungen an ihn -herum, hingen sich an ihn, oder schnizten sich sein Steckenpferd in der -Geschwindigkeit nach, oder brachen Stecken vom nächsten Zaun oder rissen -aus einem Reissigbündel den ersten besten Prügel, setzten sich darauf -und ritten mit einer solchen Wut hinter ihm drein, dass sie einen -Luftwirbel veranlassten, der alles, was ihm zu nahe kam, wie ein -reissender Strom mit sich fortris, wär es nur unter den Jungen -geblieben, so hätte es noch sein mögen; aber unglücklicherweise fanden -auch Männer Geschmack an dem artigen Spielchen, sprangen vom ihrem Weg -ab und ritten mit Stok und Degen und Amtsperüken unter den Knaben -einher. Freilich erreichte keiner seinen Meister, den sie sehr bald aus -dem Gesicht verloren, und nun die possirlichsten Sprünge von der Welt -machen und doch bildet sich jeder der Affen ein, er reite so schön wie -der Yorick.”[47] - -This lively description of Sterne’s part in this uprising is, perhaps, -the best brief characterization of the phenomenon and is all the more -significant as coming from the pen of a contemporary, and written only -about a decade after the inception of the sentimental movement as -influenced and furthered by the translation of the Sentimental Journey. -It represents a remarkable critical insight into contemporaneous -literary movements, the rarest of all critical gifts, but it has been -overlooked by investigators who have sought and borrowed brief words to -characterize the epoch.[48] - -The contribution of “Werther” and “Siegwart” to the sentimental frenzy -are even as succinctly and graphically designated; the latter book, -published in 1776, is held responsible for a recrudescence of the -phenomenon, because it gave a new direction, a new tone to the faltering -outbursts of Sterne’s followers and indicated a more comprehensible and -hence more efficient, outlet for their sentimentalism. Now again, “every -nook resounded with the whining sentimentality, with sighs, kisses, -forget-me-nots, moonshine, tears and ecstasies;” those hearts excited by -Yorick’s gospel, gropingly endeavoring to find an outlet for their own -emotions which, in their opinion were characteristic of their arouser -and stimulator, found through “Siegwart” a solution of their problem, -a relief for their emotional excess. - -Timme insists that his attack is only on Yorick’s mistaken followers and -not on Sterne himself. He contrasts the man and his imitators at the -outset sharply by comments on a quotation from the novel, “Fragmente zur -Geschichte der Zärtlichkeit”[49] as typifying the outcry of these petty -imitators against the heartlessness of their misunderstanding -critics,--“Sanfter, dultender Yorick,” he cries, “das war nicht deine -Sprache! Du priesest dich nicht mit einer pharisäischen -Selbstgenügsamkeit und schimpftest nicht auf die, die dir nicht ähnlich -waren, ‘Doch! sprachst Du am Grabe Lorenzos, doch ich bin so weichherzig -wie ein Weib, aber ich bitte die Welt nicht zu lachen, sondern mich zu -bedauern!’ Ruhe deinem Staube, sanfter, liebevoller Dulter! und nur -einen Funken deines Geistes deinen Affen.”[50] He writes not for the -“gentle, tender souls on whom the spirit of Yorick rests,”[51] for those -whose feelings are easily aroused and who make quick emotional return, -who love and do the good, the beautiful, the noble; but for those who -“bei dem wonnigen Wehen und Anhauchen der Gottheithaltenden Natur, in -huldigem Liebessinn und himmelsüssem Frohsein dahin schmelzt . . die ihr -vom Sang der Liebe, von Mondschein und Tränen euch nährt,” etc., -etc.[52] In these few words he discriminates between the man and his -influence, and outlines his intentions to satirize and chastise the -insidious disease which had fastened itself upon the literature of the -time. This passage, with its implied sincerity of appreciation for the -real Yorick, is typical of Timme’s attitude throughout the book, and his -concern lest he should appear at any time to draw the English novelist -into his condemnation leads him to reiterate this statement of purpose -and to insist upon the contrast. - -Brükmann, a young theological student, for a time an intimate of the -Kurt home, is evidently intended to represent the soberer, well-balanced -thought of the time in opposition to the feverish sentimental frenzy of -the Kurt household. He makes an exception of Yorick in his condemnation -of the literary favorites, the popular novelists of that day, but he -deplores the effects of misunderstood imitation of Yorick’s work, and -argues his case with vehemence against this sentimental group.[53] -Brükmann differentiates too the different kinds of sentimentalism and -their effects in much the same fashion as Campe in his treatise -published two years before.[54] In all this Brükmann may be regarded as -the mouth-piece of the author. The clever daughter of the gentleman who -entertains Pank at his home reads a satirical poem on the then popular -literature, but expressly disclaims any attack on Yorick or “Siegwart,” -and asserts that her bitterness is intended for their imitators. Lotte, -Pank’s sensible and unsentimental, long-suffering fiancée, makes further -comment on the “apes” of Yorick, “Werther,” and “Siegwart.” - -The unfolding of the story is at the beginning closely suggestive of -Tristram Shandy and is evidently intended to follow the Sterne novel in -a measure as a model. As has already been suggested, Timme’s own -narrative powers balk the continuity of the satire, but aid the interest -and the movement of the story. The movement later is, in large measure, -simple and direct. The hero is first introduced at his christening, and -the discussion of fitting names in the imposing family council is taken -from Walter Shandy’s hobby. The narrative here, in Sterne fashion, is -interrupted by a Shandean digression[55] concerning the influence of -clergymen’s collars and neck-bands upon the thoughts and minds of their -audiences. Such questions of chance influence of trifles upon the -greater events of life is a constant theme of speculation among the -pragmatics; no petty detail is overlooked in the possibility of its -portentous consequences. Walter Shandy’s hyperbolic philosophy turned -about such a focus, the exaltation of insignificant trifles into -mainsprings of action. Shandy bristles with such discussions. - -In Shandy fashion the story doubles on itself after the introduction and -gives minute details of young Kurt’s family and the circumstances prior -to his birth. The later discussion[56] in the family council concerning -the necessary qualities in the tutor to be hired for the young Kurt is -distinctly a borrowing from Shandy.[57] Timme imitates Sterne’s method -of ridiculing pedantry; the requirements listed by the Diaconus and the -professor are touches of Walter Shandy’s misapplied, warped, and -undigested wisdom. In the nineteenth chapter of the third volume[58] we -find a Sterne passage associating itself with Shandy rather more than -the Sentimental Journey. It is a playful thrust at a score of places in -Shandy in which the author converses with the reader about the progress -of the book, and allows the mechanism of book-printing and the vagaries -of publishers to obtrude themselves upon the relation between writer and -reader. As a reminiscence of similar promises frequent in Shandy, the -author promises in the first chapter of the fourth volume to write a -book with an eccentric title dealing with a list of absurdities.[59] - -But by far the greater proportion of the allusions to Sterne associate -themselves with the Sentimental Journey. A former acquaintance of Frau -Kurt, whose favorite reading was Shandy, Wieland’s “Sympatien” and the -Sentimental Journey, serves to satirize the influence of Yorick’s ass -episode; this gentleman wept at the sight of an ox at work, and never -ate meat lest he might incur the guilt of the murder of these sighing -creatures.[60] - -The most constantly recurring form of satire is that of contradiction -between the sentimental expression of elevated, universal sympathy and -broader humanity and the failure to seize an immediately presented -opportunity to embody desire in deed. Thus Frau Kurt,[61] buried in -“Siegwart,” refuses persistently to be disturbed by those in immediate -need of a succoring hand. Pankraz and his mother while on a drive -discover an old man weeping inconsolably over the death of his dog.[62] -The scene of the dead ass at Nampont occurs at once to Madame Kurt and -she compares the sentimental content of these two experiences in -deprivation, finding the palm of sympathy due to the melancholy -dog-bewailer before her, thereby exalting the sentimental privilege of -her own experience as a witness. Quoting Yorick, she cries: “Shame on -the world! If men only loved one another as this man loves his dog!”[63] -At this very moment the reality of her sympathy is put to the test by -the approach of a wretched woman bearing a wretched child, begging for -assistance, but Frau Kurt, steeped in the delight of her sympathetic -emotion, repulses her rudely. Pankraz, on going home, takes his Yorick -and reads again the chapter containing the dead-ass episode; he spends -much time in determining which event was the more affecting, and tears -flow at the thought of both animals. In the midst of his vehement curses -on “unempfindsame Menschen,” “a curse upon you, you hard-hearted -monsters, who treat God’s creatures unkindly,” etc., he rebukes the -gentle advances of his pet cat Riepel, rebuffs her for disturbing his -“Wonnegefühl,” in such a heartless and cruel way that, through an -accident in his rapt delight at human sympathy, the ultimate result is -the poor creature’s death by his own fault. - -In the second volume[64] Timme repeats this method of satire, varying -conditions only, yet forcing the matter forward, ultimately, into the -grotesque comic, but again taking his cue from Yorick’s narrative about -the ass at Nampont, acknowledging specifically his linking of the -adventure of Madame Kurt to the episode in the Sentimental Journey. Frau -Kurt’s ardent sympathy is aroused for a goat drawing a wagon, and driven -by a peasant. She endeavors to interpret the sighs of the beast and -finally insists upon the release of the animal, which she asserts is -calling to her for aid. The poor goat’s parting bleat after its -departing owner is construed as a curse on the latter’s hardheartedness. -Frau Kurt embraces and kisses the animal. During the whole scene the -neighboring village is in flames, houses are consumed and poor people -rendered homeless, but Frau Kurt expresses no concern, even regarding -the catastrophe as a merited affliction, because of the villagers’ lack -of sympathy with their domestic animals. The same means of satire is -again employed in the twelfth chapter of the same volume.[65] Pankraz, -overcome with pain because Lotte, his betrothed, fails to unite in his -sentimental enthusiasm and persists in common-sense, tries to bury his -grief in a wild ride through night and storm. His horse tramples -ruthlessly on a poor old man in the road; the latter cries for help, but -Pank, buried in contemplation of Lotte’s lack of sensibility, turns a -deaf ear to the appeal. - -In the seventeenth chapter of the third volume, a sentimental journey is -proposed, and most of the fourth volume is an account of this -undertaking and the events arising from its complications. Pankraz’s -adventures are largely repetitions of former motifs, and illustrate the -fate indissolubly linked with an imitation of Sterne’s related converse -with the fair sex.[66] - -The journey runs, after a few adventures, over into an elaborate -practical joke in which Pankraz himself is burlesqued by his -contemporaries. Timme carries his poignancy and keenness of satire over -into bluntness of burlesque blows in a large part of these closing -scenes. Pankraz loses the sympathy of the reader, involuntarily and -irresistibly conceded him, and becomes an inhuman freak of absurdity, -beyond our interest.[67] - -Pankraz is brought into disaster by his slavish following of suggestions -aroused through fancied parallels between his own circumstances and -those related of Yorick. He finds a sorrowing woman[68] sitting, like -Maria of Moulines, beneath a poplar tree. Pankraz insists upon carrying -out this striking analogy farther, which the woman, though she betrays -no knowledge of the Sentimental Journey, is not loath to accede to, as -it coincides with her own nefarious purposes. Timme in the following -scene strikes a blow at the abjectly sensual involved in much of the -then sentimental, unrecognized and unrealized. - -Pankraz meets a man carrying a cage of monkeys.[69] He buys the poor -creatures from their master, even as Frau Kurt had purchased the goat. -The similarity to the Starling narrative in Sterne’s volume fills -Pankraz’s heart with glee. The Starling wanted to get out and so do his -monkeys, and Pankraz’s only questions are: “What did Yorick do?” “What -would he do?” He resolves to do more than is recorded of Yorick, release -the prisoners at all costs. Yorick’s monolog occurs to him and he -parodies it. The animals greet their release in the thankless way -natural to them,--a point already enforced in the conduct of Frau Kurt’s -goat. - -In the last chapter of the third volume Sterne’s relationship to “Eliza” -is brought into the narrative. Pankraz writes a letter wherein he -declares amid exaggerated expressions of bliss that he has found -“Elisa,” his “Elisa.” This is significant as showing that the name Eliza -needed no further explanation, but, from the popularity of the -Yorick-Eliza letters and the wide-spread admiration of the relation, the -name Eliza was accepted as a type of that peculiar feminine relation -which existed between Sterne and Mrs. Draper, and which appealed to -Sterne’s admirers. - -Pankraz’s new Order of the Garter, born of his wild frenzy[70] of -devotion over this article of Elisa’s wearing apparel, is an open satire -on Leuchsenring’s and Jacobi’s silly efforts noted elsewhere. The garter -was to bear Elisa’s silhouette and the device “Orden vom Strumpfband der -empfindsamen Liebe.” - -The elaborate division of moral preachers[71] into classes may be -further mentioned as an adaptation from Sterne, cast in Yorick’s -mock-scientific manner. - -A consideration of these instances of allusion and adaptation with a -view to classification, reveals a single line of demarkation obvious and -unaltered. And this line divides the references to Sterne’s sentimental -influence from those to his whimsicality of narration, his vagaries of -thought; that is, it follows inevitably, and represents precisely the -two aspects of Sterne as an individual, and as an innovator in the world -of letters. But that a line of cleavage is further equally discernible -in the treatment of these two aspects is not to be overlooked. On the -one hand is the exaggerated, satirical, burlesque; on the other the -modified, lightened, softened. And these two lines of division coincide -precisely. - -The slight touches of whimsicality, suggesting Sterne, are a part of -Timme’s own narrative, evidently adapted with approval and appreciation; -they are never carried to excess, satirized or burlesqued, but may be -regarded as purposely adopted, as a result of admiration and presumably -as a suggestion to the possible workings of sprightliness and grace on -the heaviness of narrative prose at that time. Timme, as a clear-sighted -contemporary, certainly confined the danger of Sterne’s literary -influence entirely to the sentimental side, and saw no occasion to -censure an importation of Sterne’s whimsies. Pank’s ode on the death of -Riepel, written partly in dashes and partly in exclamation points, is -not a disproof of this assertion. Timme is not satirizing Sterne’s -whimsical use of typographical signs, but rather the Germans who -misunderstood Sterne and tried to read a very peculiar and precious -meaning into these vagaries. The sentimental is, however, always -burlesqued and ridiculed; hence the satire is directed largely against -the Sentimental Journey, and Shandy is followed mainly in those -sections, which, we are compelled to believe, he wrote for his own -pleasure, and in which he was led on by his own interest. - -The satire on sentimentalism is purposeful, the imitation and adaptation -of the whimsical and original is half-unconscious, and bespeaks -admiration and commendation. - -Timme’s book was sufficiently popular to demand a second edition, but it -never received the critical examination its merits deserved. Wieland’s -_Teutscher Merkur_ and the _Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_ -ignore it completely. The _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_ announces the -book in its issue of August 2, 1780, but the book itself is not reviewed -in its columns. The _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ accords -it a colorless and unappreciative review in which Timme is reproached -for lack of order in his work (a censure more applicable to the first -volume), and further for his treatment of German authors then -popular.[72] The latter statement stamps the review as unsympathetic -with Timme’s satirical purpose. In the _Erfurtische gelehrte -Zeitung_,[73] in the very house of its own publication, the novel is -treated in a long review which hesitates between an acknowledged lack of -comprehension and indignant denunciation. The reviewer fears that the -author is a “Pasquillant oder gar ein Indifferentist” and hopes the -public will find no pleasure (Geschmack) in such bitter jesting -(Schnaken). He is incensed at Timme’s contention that the Germans were -then degenerate as compared with their Teutonic forefathers, and Timme’s -attack on the popular writers is emphatically resented. “Aber nun kömmt -das Schlimme erst,” he says, “da führt er aus Schriften unserer grössten -Schenies, aus den Lieblings-büchern der Nazion, aus Werther’s Leiden, -dem Siegwart, den Fragmenten zur Geschichte der Zärtlichkeit, Müller’s -Freuden und Leiden, Klinger’s Schriften u.s.w. zur Bestätigung seiner -Behauptung, solche Stellen mit solcher Bosheit an, dass man in der That -ganz verzweifelt wird, ob sie von einem Schenie oder von einem Affen -geschrieben sind.” - -In the number for July 6, 1782, the second and third volumes are -reviewed. Pity is expressed for the poor author, “denn ich fürchte es -wird sich ein solches Geschrey wider ihn erheben, wovon ihm die Ohren -gällen werden.” Timme wrote reviews for this periodical, and the general -tone of this notice renders it not improbable that he roguishly wrote -the review himself or inspired it, as a kind of advertisement for the -novel itself. It is certainly a challenge to the opposing party. - -The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[74] alone seems to grasp the full -significance of the satire. “We acknowledge gladly,” says the reviewer, -“that the author has with accuracy noted and defined the rise, -development, ever-increasing contagion and plague-like prevalence of -this moral pestilence; . . . that the author has penetrated deep into -the knowledge of this disease and its causes.” He wishes for an -engraving of the Sterne hobby-horse cavalcade described in the first -chapter, and begs for a second and third volume, “aus deutscher -Vaterlandsliebe.” Timme is called “Our German Cervantes.” - -The second and third volumes are reviewed[75] with a brief word of -continued approbation. - -A novel not dissimilar in general purpose, but less successful in -accomplishment, is Wezel’s “Wilhelmine Arend, oder die Gefahren der -Empfindsamkeit,” Dessau and Leipzig, 1782, two volumes. The book is more -earnest in its conception. Its author says in the preface that his -desire was to attack “Empfindsamkeit” on its dangerous and not on its -comic side, hence the book avoids in the main the lighthearted and -telling burlesque, the Hudibrastic satire of Timme’s novel. He works -along lines which lead through increasing trouble to a tragic -_dénouement_. - -The preface contains a rather elaborate classification of kinds of -“Empfindsamkeit,” which reminds one of Sterne’s mock-scientific -discrimination. This classification is according to temperament, -education, example, custom, reading, strength or weakness of the -imagination; there is a happy, a sad, a gentle, a vehement, a dallying, -a serious, a melancholy, sentimentality, the last being the most poetic, -the most perilous. - -The leading character, Wilhelmine, is, like most characters which are -chosen and built up to exemplify a preconceived theory, quite -unconvincing. In his foreword Wezel analyzes his heroine’s character and -details at some length the motives underlying the choice of attributes -and the building up of her personality. This insight into the author’s -scaffolding, this explanation of the mechanism of his puppet-show, does -not enhance the aesthetic, or the satirical force of the figure. She is -not conceived in flesh and blood, but is made to order. - -The story begins in letters,--a method of story-telling which was the -legacy of Richardson’s popularity--and this device is again employed in -the second volume (Part VII). Wilhelmine Arend is one of those whom -sentimentalism seized like a maddening pestiferous disease. We read of -her that she melted into tears when her canary bird lost a feather, that -she turned white and trembled when Dr. Braun hacked worms to pieces in -conducting a biological experiment. On one occasion she refused to drive -home, as this would take the horses out in the noonday sun and disturb -their noonday meal,--an exorbitant sympathy with brute creation which -owes its popularity to Yorick’s ass. It is not necessary here to relate -the whole story. Wilhelmine’s excessive sentimentality estranges her -from her husband, a weak brutish man, who has no comprehension of her -feelings. He finds a refuge in the debasing affections of a French -opera-singer, Pouilly, and gradually sinks to the very lowest level of -degradation. This all is accomplished by the interposition and active -concern of friends, by efforts at reunion managed by benevolent -intriguers and kindly advisers. - -The advice of Drs. Braun and Irwin is especially significant in its sane -characterization of Wilhelmine’s mental disorders, and the observations -upon “Empfindsamkeit” which are scattered through the book are -trenchant, and often markedly clever. Wilhelmine holds sentimental -converse with three kindred spirits in succession, Webson, Dittmar, and -Geissing. The first reads touching tales aloud to her and they two unite -their tears, a sentimental idea dating from the Maria of Moulines -episode. The part which the physical body, with its demands and desires -unacknowledged and despised, played as the unseen moving power in these -three friendships is clearly and forcefully brought out. Allusion to -Timme’s elucidation of this principle, which, though concealed, underlay -much of the sentimentalism of this epoch, has already been made. Finally -Wilhelmine is persuaded by her friends to leave her husband, and the -scene is shifted to a little Harz village, where she is married to -Webson; but the unreasonableness of her nature develops inordinately, -and she is unable ever to submit to any reasonable human relations, and -the rest of the tale is occupied with her increasing mental aberration, -her retirement to a hermit-like seclusion, and her death. - -The book, as has been seen, presents a rather pitiful satire on the -whole sentimental epoch, not treating any special manifestation, but -applicable in large measure equally to those who joined in expressing -the emotional ferment to which Sterne, “Werther” and “Siegwart” gave -impulse, and for which they secured literary recognition. Wezel fails as -a satirist, partly because his leading character is not convincing, but -largely because his satirical exaggeration, and distortion of -characteristics, which by a process of selection renders satire -efficient, fails to make the exponent of sentimentalism ludicrous, but -renders her pitiful. At the same time this satirical warping impairs the -value of the book as a serious presentation of a prevailing malady. The -book falls between two stools. - -A precursor of “Wilhelmine Arend” from Wezel’s own hand was “Die -unglückliche Schwäche,” which was published in the second volume of his -“Satirische Erzählungen.”[76] In this book we have a character with a -heart like the sieve of the Danaids, and to Frau Laclerc is attributed -“an exaggerated softness of heart which was unable to resist a single -impression, and was carried away at any time, wherever the present -impulse bore it.” The plot of the story, with the intrigues of Graf. Z., -the Pouilly of the piece, the separation of husband and wife, their -reunion, the disasters following directly in the train of weakness of -heart in opposing sentimental attacks, are undoubtedly children of the -same purpose as that which brought forth “Wilhelmine Arend.” - -Another satirical protest was, as one reads from a contemporary review, -“Die Tausend und eine Masche, oder Yoricks wahres Shicksall, ein blaues -Mährchen von Herrn Stanhope” (1777, 8vo). The book purports to be the -posthumous work of a young Englishman, who, disgusted with Yorick’s -German imitators, grew finally indignant with Yorick himself. The -_Almanach der deutschen Musen_ (1778, pp. 99-100) finds that the author -misjudges Yorick. The book is written in part if not entirely in verse. - -In 1774 a correspondent of Wieland’s _Merkur_ writes, begging this -authoritative periodical to condemn a weekly paper just started in -Prague, entitled “Wochentlich Etwas,” which is said to be written in the -style of Tristram Shandy and the Sentimental Journey, M . . . R . . . -and “die Beyträge zur Geheimen Geschichte des menschlichen Herzens und -Verstandes,” and thereby is a shame to “our dear Bohemia.” - -In this way it is seen how from various sources and in various ways -protest was made against the real or distorted message of Laurence -Sterne. - - - [Footnote 1: I, p. 103, Lemgo.] - - [Footnote 2: 1772, July 7.] - - [Footnote 3: See Erich Schmidt’s “Heinrich Leopold Wagner, - Goethe’s Jugendgenosse,” 2d edition, Jena, 1879, p. 82.] - - [Footnote 4: Berlin, 1779, pp. 86.] - - [Footnote 5: XLIV, 1, p. 105.] - - [Footnote 6: Probably Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, the poet and - fable-writer (1727-1820). The references to the _Deutsches Museum_ - are respectively VI, p. 384; VIII, pp. 220-235; X, pp. 464 ff.] - - [Footnote 7: “Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s Vermischte Schriften,” - edited by Ludwig Christian Lichtenberg and Friedrich Kries, new - edition, Göttingen, 1844-46, 8 vols.] - - [Footnote 8: “Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland,” - Leipzig, 1862, II, p. 585.] - - [Footnote 9: See also Gervinus, “Geschichte der deutschen - Dichtung,” 5th edition, 1874, V. p. 194. “Ein Original selbst und - mehr als irgend einer befähigt die humoristischen Romane auf - deutschen Boden zu verpflanzen.” Gervinus says also (V, p. 221) - that the underlying thought of Musäus in his “Physiognomische - Reisen” would, if handled by Lichtenberg, have made the most - fruitful stuff for a humorous novel in Sterne’s style.] - - [Footnote 10: I, p. 184 f.] - - [Footnote 11: III, p. 112.] - - [Footnote 12: II, 11-12: “Im ersten Fall wird er nie, nach dem die - Stelle vorüber ist, seinen Sieg plötzlich aufgeben. So wie bei ihm - sich die Leidenschaft kühlt, kühlt sie sich auch bei uns und er - bringt uns ab, ohne dass wir es wissen. Hingegen im letztern Fall - nimmt er sich selten die Mühe, sich seines Sieges zu bedienen, - sondern wirft den Leser oft mehr zur Bewunderung seiner Kunst, als - seines Herzens in eine andere Art von Verfassung hinein, die ihn - selbst nichts kostet als Witz, den Leser fast um alles bringt, was - er vorher gewonnen hatte.”] - - [Footnote 13: V, 95.] - - [Footnote 14: I, p. 136.] - - [Footnote 15: I, p. 151.] - - [Footnote 16: See also I, p. 139.] - - [Footnote 17: II, p. 209; III, p. 11; VII, p. 133.] - - [Footnote 18: I, p. 136; II, pp. 13, 39, 209; 165, “Die Nachahmer - Sterne’s sind gleichsam die Pajazzi desselben.”] - - [Footnote 19: In _Göttingisches Magazin_, 1780, Schriften IV, pp. - 186-227: “Thöricht affectirte Sonderbarkeit in dieser Methode wird - das Kriterium von Originalität und das sicherste Zeichen, dass man - einen Kopf habe, dieses wenn man sich des Tages ein Paar Mal - darauf stellt. Wenn dieses auch eine Sternisch Kunst wäre, so ist - wohl so viel gewiss, es ist keine der schwersten.”] - - [Footnote 20: II, pp. 199-244.] - - [Footnote 21: V, p. 250.] - - [Footnote 22: VI, p. 195.] - - [Footnote 23: Tristram Shandy, I, pp. 172-180.] - - [Footnote 24: II, p. 12.] - - [Footnote 25: Weimar, 1899.] - - [Footnote 26: These dates are of the departure from and return to - Copenhagen; the actual time of residence in foreign lands would - fall somewhat short of this period.] - - [Footnote 27: _Deutsches Museum_, 1777, p. 449, or Schriften, I, - pp. 12-13; “Bibliothek der deutschen Klassiker,” Vol. VI, p. 652.] - - [Footnote 28: English writers who have endeavored to make an - estimate of Sterne’s character have ignored this part of Garrick’s - opinion, though his statement with reference to the degeneration - of Sterne’s moral nature is frequently quoted.] - - [Footnote 29: _Deutsches Museum_, II, pp. 601-604; Schriften, II, - pp. 288-291.] - - [Footnote 30: Gedichte von L. F. G. Goeckingk, 3 Bde., 1780, 1781, - 1782, Leipzig.] - - [Footnote 31: I, pp. 94, 116, 160.] - - [Footnote 32: Hamburg, pp. 44.] - - [Footnote 33: Hamburg, Bohn, 1785.] - - [Footnote 34: Published in improved and amplified form, - Braunschweig, 1794.] - - [Footnote 35: II, Nr. 204, August 25, 1808, Tübingen.] - - [Footnote 36: Breslau, 1779, 2d edition, 1780, by A. W. L. von - Rahmel.] - - [Footnote 37: See M. Denis, “Literarischer Nachlass,” edited by - Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, p. 196.] - - [Footnote 38: “Sämmtliche Werke,” edited by B. R. Abeken, Berlin, - 1858, III, pp. 61-64.] - - [Footnote 39: First American edition as “Practical Philosophy,” - Lansingburgh, 1805, p. 331. Sterne is cited on p. 85.] - - [Footnote 40: Altenburg, 1778, p. 90. Reviewed in _Gothaische - Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1779, p. 169, March 17, and in _Allg. - deutsche Bibl._, XXXVII, 2, p. 476.] - - [Footnote 41: Hempel, VIII, p. 354.] - - [Footnote 42: In a review of “Mamsell Fieckchen und ihr - Vielgetreuer, ein Erbauungsbüchlein für gefühlvolle Mädchen,” - which is intended to be a warning to tender-hearted maidens - against the sentimental mask of young officers. Another protest - against excess of sentimentalism was “Philotas, ein Versuch zur - Beruhigung und Belehrung für Leidende und Freunde der Leidenden,” - Leipzig, 1779. See _Allg. deutsche. Bibl._, XLIV. 1, pp. 128-9.] - - [Footnote 43: See Erich Schmidt’s “Richardson, Rousseau und - Goethe,” Jena, 1875, p. 297.] - - [Footnote 44: See _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_, 1780, - pp. 627, 761.] - - [Footnote 45: The full title is “Der Empfindsame Maurus Pankrazius - Ziprianus Kurt auch Selmar genannt, ein Moderoman,” published by - Keyser at Erfurt, 1781-83, with a second edition, 1785-87.] - - [Footnote 46: “Faramonds Familiengeschichte, in Briefen,” Erfurt, - Keyser, 1779-81. _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XLIV, 1, p. 120; - _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_, 1780, pp. 273, 332; 1781, - pp. 113, 314.] - - [Footnote 47: Pp. 8-9.] - - [Footnote 48: Goethe’s review of Schummel’s “Empfindsame Reise” - in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._ represents the high-water mark of - understanding criticism relative to individual work, but - represents necessarily no grasp of the whole movement.] - - [Footnote 49: Frankfurt, 1778, _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XL, 1, 119. - This is by Baker incorrectly ascribed J. F. Abel, the author of - “Beiträge zur Geschichte der Liebe,” 1778.] - - [Footnote 50: P. 15.] - - [Footnote 51: P. 17.] - - [Footnote 52: P. 18.] - - [Footnote 53: I, pp. 313 ff.] - - [Footnote 54: This distinction between Empfindsamkeit and - Empfindelei is further given II, p. 180.] - - [Footnote 55: Pp. 33-39.] - - [Footnote 56: I, pp. 88 ff.] - - [Footnote 57: See discussion concerning Tristram’s tutor, Tristram - Shandy, II, p. 217.] - - [Footnote 58: III, pp. 318 ff.] - - [Footnote 59: Vol. IV, p. 12. “Zoologica humana,” and treating of - Affen, Gekken, Narren, Schelmen, Schurken, Heuchlern, Schlangen, - Schafen, Schweinen, Ochsen und Eseln.] - - [Footnote 60: I, p. 72.] - - [Footnote 61: I, pp. 225 ff.] - - [Footnote 62: I, pp. 245 ff.] - - [Footnote 63: A substitution merely of another animal for the - passage in “Empfindsame Reise,” Bode’s translation, edition of - 1769 (2d ed.), I, p. 109.] - - [Footnote 64: pp. 241 ff.] - - [Footnote 65: Vol. II, pp. 333 ff.] - - [Footnote 66: See the record of Pankraz’s sentimental interview - with the pastor’s wife.] - - [Footnote 67: For example, see Pankraz’s prayer to Riepel, the - dead cat, when he learns that another has done more than he in - raising a lordlier monument to the feline’s virtues: “Wenn du itz - in der Gesellschaft reiner, verklärter Kazengeister, Himnen - miaust, O so sieh einen Augenblick auf diese Welt herab! Sieh - meinen Schmerz, meine Reue!” His sorrow for Riepel is likened to - the Nampont pilgrim’s grief for his dead ass.] - - [Footnote 68: IV, pp. 222-235.] - - [Footnote 69: IV, pp. 253 ff.] - - [Footnote 70: IV, pp. 113 ff.: “Wenn ich so denke, wie es Elisen - berührt, so wird mir schwindlich . . . . Ich möchte es umschlingen - wie es Elisen’s Bein umschlungen hat, mögt mich ganz verweben mit - ihm,” etc.] - - [Footnote 71: IV, pp. 214 ff.] - - [Footnote 72: 1781, p. 573: “Dass er einzelne Stellen aus unsern - angesehensten Schriftstellern heraus rupfet und in eine - lächerliche Verbindung bringt.”] - - [Footnote 73: 1781, pp. 265-7.] - - [Footnote 74: LI, I, p. 234.] - - [Footnote 75: LII, 1, p. 149.] - - [Footnote 76: Reviewed in _Almanach der deutscher Musen_, 1779, - p. 41. The work was published in Leipzig, I, 1777; II, 1778.] - - - - -A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LAURENCE STERNE - - -The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath considered: A charity -sermon preach’d on Good Friday, April 17, 1747. York, 1747. - -The Abuses of Conscience set forth in a sermon preached in the Cathedral -Church of St. Peter’s, York, July 29, 1750. York, 1750. - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, vols. I, II, York, 1759. 2d. -ed. London, 1760. Vols. III, IV, London, 1761. Vols. V, VI, London, -1762. Vols. VII, VIII, London, 1765. Vol. IX, London, 1767. - -Sermons of Mr. Yorick. Vols. I, II, London, 1760. Vols. III, IV, London, -1766. Vols. V, VI, VII, London, 1769. - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. London, 1768. - -A Political Romance addressed to ----, esq., of York, 1769. The first -edition of the Watchcoat story. - -Letters from Yorick to Eliza. London, 1775. - -Twelve Letters to his Friends on Various Occasions, to which is added -his history of a Watchcoat, with explanatory notes. London, 1775. - -Letters of the Late Reverend Laurence Sterne to his most intimate -Friends with a Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais to which are prefixed -Memoirs of his life and family written by himself, published by his -daughter, Lydia Sterne de Medalle. London, 1775. - -Seven Letters written by Sterne and his Friends, edited by W. Durrant -Cooper. 1844. - -Unpublished Letters of Laurence Sterne. In Philobiblon Society -Miscellanies. 1855, Vol. II. The Kitty Correspondence. - -Works of Laurence Sterne. 10 vols. London, Dodsley, etc., 1793. - -Works. Edited by G. E. B. Saintsbury, 6 vols. London, 1894. - - These two editions have been chiefly used in the preparation of this - work. Because of its general accessibility references to Tristram - Shandy and the Sentimental Journey are made to the latter. - -Illustrations of Sterne, by Dr. John Ferriar. Manchester, 1798. 2d -edition: London, 1812. - -Life of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald. 1864. Revised edition, -London, 1896. 2 vols. - -Sterne, in English Men of Letters Series, by H. D. Traill. 1883. - -Sir Walter Scott. Lives of the Novelists, Vol. I, p. 156-186. - -Paul Stapfer. Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages étude -précédée d’un fragment inédit de Sterne. Paris, 1882. - -William M. Thackeray. Sterne and Goldsmith, in English Humorists, 1858, -pp. 286-341. - -J. B. Montégut, Essais sur la Littérature anglaise. 1883, pp. 279-364. - -Walter Bagehot, Sterne and Thackeray, in Literary Studies. 1902, Vol. -II, pp. 282-325. - -E. Scherer. Laurence Sterne or the Humorist, in Essays on English -Literature. 1891, pp. 150-173. - -Sir Leslie Stephen. Hours in a Library. 1852. Vol. III, pp. 139-174. - -Herbert Paul. Men and Letters. 1901. Pp. 67-89. - -Whitwell Elwin. Some XVIII Century Men of Letters. 1902. Vol. II, -pp. 1-81. - -Sidney Lee. Article on Sterne in the National Dictionary of Biography. - - - - -A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF STERNE IN GERMANY - - - It cannot be assumed that the following list of reprints and - translations is complete. The conditions of the book trade then - existing were such that unauthorized editions of popular books - were very common. - - -I. GERMAN EDITIONS OF STERNE’S WORKS INCLUDING SPURIOUS OR DOUBTFUL -WORKS PUBLISHED UNDER HIS NAME. - -_a. Tristram Shandy_ - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 6 vols. Altenburg, -1772. (Richter.) - -The same. Altenburg, 1776. - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A new edition. -Basil, 1792. (Legrand). - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols gr. 8vo. Gotha, 1792. -(Ettinger). Identical with the preceding. - -Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols. (with 4 engravings). Wien, -1798. (Sammer.) - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols. Gotha, 1805-6. -(Stendel and Keil.) - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Schneeburg, 1833. Pocket -edition of the most eminent English authors of the preceding century, -of which it is vols. XI-XIII. - -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols., gr. 8vo. Basel. -(Thurneisen), without date. - - -_b. The Sentimental Journey_ - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. 8vo. Altenburg, -1771. (Richter.) - -The same with cuts, 2 vols, 8vo. Altenburg, 1772. (Richter.) - -The same. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) - -The same. Göttingen, 1779. (Diederich). Pp. 199. No introduction or -notes. - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy in two books. Göttingen, -1787. (Dietrich.) - -A Sentimental Journey with a continuation by Eugenius and an account of -the life and writings of L. Sterne, gr. 8vo. Basel, 1792. (Legrand, -Ettinger in Gotha.) - -Sentimental Journey through France and Italy mit Anmerkungen und -Wortregister, 8vo. Halle, 1794. (Renger). - -A sentimental Journey through France and Italy. 4 parts complete in 2 -vols. 2d edition to which are now added several other pieces by the same -author. (With four engravings) 12mo. Wien, 1798. (Sammer.) - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy and the continuation by -Eugenius, 2 parts, 8vo. Halle, 1806. (Hendel). - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick. In Two -Books. Göttingen, 1806. (Dietrich). Pp. 271. - -A Sentimental Journey. New edition, 12mo. Altenburg, 1815. (Brockhaus in -Leipzig.) - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, gr. 12mo. Jena, 1826. -(Schmid.) - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 16mo. Nürnberg, 1828. -(Campe.) - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Schneeberg, 1830. Pocket -edition of the most eminent English authors of the preceding century, of -which it is Vol. IV. - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Basil (Thurneisen), -without date. - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. London. Cooke. Campe in -Hamburg, without date. - -Tauchnitz has published editions of both Shandy and the Journey. - - -_c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous_ - -Yorick’s letters to Eliza, Eliza’s letters to Yorick. Sterne’s letters -to his Friends. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) - -Letters to his most intimate Friends, with a fragment in the manner of -Rabelais published by his Daughter, Mme. Medalle. 3 vols., 8vo. -Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) - -Letters written between Yorick and Eliza with letters to his Friends. -Nürnberg, 8vo, 1788. (Schneider.) - -Letters written between Yorick and Eliza. 12mo. Vienna, 1795. - -Letters between Yorick and Eliza, 12mo. Wien, 1797. (Sammer.) - -Letters of the late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne, to his most intimate -friends, on various occasions, as published by his daughter, Mrs. -Medalle, and others, including the letters between Yorick and Eliza. -To which are added: An appendix of XXXII Letters never printed before; -A fragment in the manner of Rabelais, and the History of a Watchcoat. -With explanatory notes. 2 vols. Vienna, 1797. (Sammer.) - -Letters written between Yorick and Eliza, mit einem erklärenden -Wortregister zum Selbstunterricht von J. H. Emmert. Giessen, 1802. - -Sermons by Laurence Sterne. 7 vols. Altenburg, 1777. (Richter) 8vo. - -The Koran, or Essays, Sentiments and Callimachies, etc. 1 vol. Wien, -1795. (Sammer.) - -The Koran, etc. Wien, 1798. (Sammer). 12mo, pp. 275. - -Gleanings from the works of Laurence Sterne. Campe’s edition. Nürnberg -and New York. Without date. - - -II. GERMAN TRANSLATIONS OF STERNE. - -_a. Tristram Shandy_ - -Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Berlin und -Stralsund, 1763. Parts I-VI. Translation by Johann Friedrich Zückert. - -The same. Parts VII-VIII. 1763. - -The same. Part IX (spurious). 1767. - -Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Nach einer neuen -Uebersetzung. Berlin und Stralsund, 1769-1772. (Lange.) A revised -edition of the previous translation. - -Das Leben und die Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy aus dem Englischen -übersetzt, nach einer neuen Uebersetzung auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofrath -Wielands verfasst. Neun Theile. Berlin, 1774. - -Another edition of the same translation. - -Tristram Schandi’s Leben und Meynungen. Hamburg, 1774. Bey Bode. -Translation by J. J. C. Bode. Nine parts. I, pp. 185; II, pp. 191; III, -pp. 210; IV, pp. 226; V, pp. 166; VI, pp. 164; VII, pp. 148; VIII, pp. -144; IX, pp. 128. - -The same. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. Hamburg, 1776. - -The same, 1777. - -The same, 1778. - -The same. Nachdruck, Hanau und Höchst. 1776-7. - -The same. Nachdruck. Berlin, 1778. - -Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, von neuem verdeutscht. 3 vols. -Leipzig, 1801. (Linke.) A revision of Bode’s translation by J. L. -Benzler. - -The same. Hannover. 1810. (Hahn.) - -Leben und Meinungen des Tristram Shandy von Sterne--neu übertragen von -W. H., Magdeburg, 1831. Sammlung der ausgezeichnetsten humoristischen -und komischen Romane des Auslands in neuen zeitgemässen Bearbeitungen. -Bd. X, I, pp. 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 151; IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 256; -V, pp. 257-264, Ueber Laurence Sterne und dessen Werke. Another revision -of Bode’s work. - -Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, von Lorenz Sterne, aus dem -Englischen von Dr. G. R. Bärmann. Berlin, 1856. - -Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von -F. A. Gelbcke. Nos. 96-99 of “Bibliothek ausländischer Klassiker.” -Leipzig, 1879. (Bibliographisches Institut.) - -Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Deutsch von A. Seubert. -Leipzig, 1881. (Reclam.) - - -_b. The Sentimental Journey_ - -Yorick’s emfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. Hamburg und -Bremen, 1768. Translated by J. J. C. Bode. - -The same, with parts III, IV (Stevenson’s continuation), 1769. - -The same. Hamburg und Bremen, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1776, 1777, 1804. - -The same. Mannheim. 1780. - -The same. Leipzig, 1797, 1802. (Rabenhorst.) - -Versuch über die menschliche Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des -Tristram Shandy Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien. Braunschweig, 1769. -(Fürstliche Waisenhausbuchhandlung), pp. 248. Translation by Hofprediger -Mittelstedt. - -Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des Tristram Shandy, Reisen durch Frankreich -und Italien, als ein Versuch über die menschliche Natur. Braunschweig, -1769. Is a second edition of the former. - -The same, 1774. - -Yoricks empfindsame Reise von neuem verdeutscht. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1801. -A revision of Bode’s work by Johann Lorenz Benzler. - -Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien übersetzt von Ch. -C. Meissner. Zwickau, 1825. (Schumann.) - -Eine Empfindsame Reise . . . übersetzt, mit Lebensbeschreibung des -Autors und erläuternden Bemerkungen von H. A. Clemen. Essen, 1827. - -A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Yorick’s Empfindsame -Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, mit erläuternden Anmerkungen von -W. Gramberg. 8vo. Oldenburg, 1833. (Schulze.) Since both titles are -given, it is not evident whether this is a reprint, a translation, -or both. - -Laurence Sterne--Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. -Halle. (Hendel.) A revision of Bode’s translation, with a brief -introductory note by E. Suchier. - -Yorick’s empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, übersetzt von -A. Lewald. Pforzheim, 1842. - -Yorick’s empfindsame Reise, übersetzt von K. Eitner. Bibliothek -ausländischer Klassiker. Bd. 75. Hildburghausen. - -Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien Deutsch von Friedrich -Hörlek. Leipzig, 1859. (Reclam.) - - -_c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous_ - -Briefe von (Yorick) Sterne an seine Freunde Nebst seiner Geschichte -eines Ueberrocks, Aus dem Englischen. Hamburg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. VIII, -144. - -Yorick’s Briefe an Elisa. Hamburg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. XX, 75. - -Briefe von Elisa an Yorick. Aus dem Engl. Hamburg, 1775. Pp. XVI, 64. - -Translation of the above three probably by Bode. - -Briefwechsel mit Elisen und seinen übrigen Freunden. Leipzig, 1775. -(Weidmann.) - -Elisens ächte Briefe an Yorik. Leipzig, 1775. - -Briefe an seine vertrauten Freunde nebst Fragment im Geschmack des -Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst verfassten Nachricht von seinem Leben -und seiner Familie, herausgegeben von seiner Tochter Madame Medalle. -Leipzig, 1776. (Weidmann.) Pp. XXVIII, 391. Translation probably by Chr. -Felix Weisse. - -The same. 1785. - -Yorick’s Briefe an Elisa. Leipzig, 1785. (Göschen.) A new edition of -Bode’s rendering. - -Briefe von Lorenz Sterne, dem Verfasser von Yorik’s empfindsame Reisen. -Englisch und Deutsch zum erstenmal abgedruckt. London, 1787. Is probably -the same as “Hinterlassene Briefe. Englisch und Deutsch.” Leipzig, 1787. -(Nauck.) - -Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick. Zürich. I, 1766; II, 1767. -(Fuesslin und Comp.) - -The same, III, under the special title “Reden an Esel.” - -Predigten. Zürich, 1773. (Orell.) - -Neue Sammlung von Predigten: Leipsig, 1770. (Hahn.) Translation by Prof. -A. E. Klausing. - -Reden an Esel. Mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen. Hamburg, 1795. (Herold, -jun.) - -Reden an Esel, von Lorenz Sterne. Thorn, 1795. - -Lorenz Sterne des Menschenkenners Benutzung einiger Schriftsteller. -Basel, 1781. (Flick.) An abridged edition of his sermons. - -Buch der Predigten oder 100 Predigten und Reden aus den verschiedenen -Zeiten by R. Nesselmann. Elbing, 1868. Contains Sterne’s sermon on St. -Luke X, 23-37. - -Yorick’s Nachgelassene Werke. Leipzig, 1771. Translation of the Koran, -by J. G. Gellius. - -Der Koran, oder Leben und Meinungen des Tria Juncta in Uno, M. N. A. -Ein hinterlassenes Werk von dem Verfasser des Tristram Shandy. Hamburg, -1778. Translation probably by Bode. - -Yorick’s Betrachtungen über verschiedene wichtige und angenehme -Gegenstände. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1769. - -Betrachtungen über verschiedene Gegenstände. Braunschweig, 1789. -(Schulbuchhandlung.) - -Nachlese aus Laurence Sterne’s Werken in’s Deutsche übersetzt von Julius -Voss. Thorn, 1854. - -French translations of Sterne’s works were issued at Bern and -Strassburg, and one of his “Sentimental Journey” at Kopenhagen and an -Italian translation of the same in Dresden (1822), and in Prague (1821). - - -III. MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORITIES. - - The following list contains (a) books or articles treating - particularly, or at some length, the relation of German authors - to Laurence Sterne; (b) books of general usefulness in determining - literary conditions in the eighteenth century, to which frequent - reference is made; (c) periodicals which are the sources of reviews - and criticisms cited in the text. Other works to which only - incidental reference is made are noted in the text itself. - -Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Berlin und Stettin, 1765-92. Edited by -Nicolai. - -Allgemeine Litteratur Zeitung. Jena, Leipzig, Wien, 1781. - -Almanach der deutschen Musen. Leipzig, 1770-1781. Edited by Chr. Heinr. -Schmid. - -Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter. 1750. Editor 1772-1786 was Albrecht -Wittenberg. - -Altonischer Gelehrter Mercurius. Altona, 1763-1772. - -Appell, Joh. Wilhelm. Werther und Seine Zeit. 4 Aufl. Oldenburg, 1896. - -Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen Litteratur. Lemgo, -1772-1778. - -Baker, Thomas Stockham. The Influence of Laurence Sterne upon German -Literature. In Americana Germanica. Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 41-56. - -Bauer, F. Sternescher Humor in Immermanns Münchhausen. Programm. Wien, -1896. - -Bauer, F. Ueber den Einfluss Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. Wieland. -Programm. Karlsbad. 1898. - -Behmer, Karl August. Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland. Forschungen zur -neueren Literaturgeschichte, No. 9 München, 1899. Ein Beitrag zur -Erforschung fremder Einflüsse auf Wielands Dichtungen. - -Berlinische Monatsschrift, 1783-1796, edited by Gedike and Biester. - -Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und der freyen Künste. Leipzig, -1757-65. 12 vol. I-IV edited by Nicolai and Mendelssohn, V-XII edited by -Chr. Felix Weisse. - -J. J. C. Bode’s Literarisches Leben. Nebst dessen Bildniss von Lips. -Berlin, 1796. First published in Vol. VI of Bode’s translation of -Montaigne, “Michael Montaigne’s Gedanken und Meinungen.” Berlin, -1793-1795. The life of Bode is Vol. VI, pp. III-CXLIV. - -Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, Künste und -Tugend. Bremen und Leipzig, 1757-66. - -Büchner, Alex. Sternes Coran und Makariens Archiv. Goethe ein Plagiator? -Morgenblatt, No. 39, p. 922 f. - -Czerny, Johann, Sterne, Hippel und Jean Paul. Berlin, 1904. - -Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften. Halle, 1767-1771. Edited -by Klotz. - -Deutsches Museum. Leipzig, 1776-1788. Edited by Dohm and Boie and -continued to 1791 as Neues deutsches Museum. - -Ebeling, Friedrich W. Geschichte der komischen Literatur in Deutschland -während der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1869. 3 vols. - -Elze, Frederich Karl. Die englische Sprache und Litteratur in -Deutschland. Dresden, 1864. - -Erfurtische Gelehrte Zeitung. Erfurt, 1781-1796. - -Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen. Frankfurt. Published under several -titles, 1736-1790. Editors, Merck, Bahrdt and others. - -Gervinus, G. G. Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. Edited by Karl -Bartsch. 5 vols. Leipzig, 1871-74. - -Goedeke, Karl. Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. Dresden, -1884-1900. - -Gothaische gelehrte Zeitungen. Gotha, 1774-1804. Published and edited by -Ettinger. - -Göttingische Anzeigen von Gelehrten Sachen 1753. Michaelis was editor -1753-1770, then Christian Gottlob Heyne. - -Hamburger Adress-Comptoir Nachrichten, 1767. Edited by Joh. Wm. Dumpf. - -Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent. Full title, Staats- und -Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyischen Correspondenten. -Editor, 1763-3, Bode; 1767-1770, Albrecht Wittenberg. - -Hédouin, Alfred. Goethe plagiaire de Sterne, in Le Monde Maçonnique. -July, 1863. - -Heine, Carl. Der Roman in Deutschland von 1774 bis 1778. Halle, 1892. - -Hettner, Hermann. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im achtzehnten -Jahrhundert. 4te Auflage. Braunschweig, 1893-94. This is the third -division of his Literaturgeschichte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. - -Hillebrand, Joseph. Die deutsche Nationalliteratur seit dem Anfange des -achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, besonders seit Lessing bis auf die Gegenwart. -2te Ausgabe. Hamburg und Gotha, 1850. - -Hirsching, Friedr. Carl Gottlob. Historisch-litterarisches Handbuch -berühmter und denkwürdiger Personen, welche in dem 18. Jahrhundert -gelebt haben. Vol. XIII. Leipzig, 1809. - -Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen. Jena, 1765-1781. - -Jördens, Karl Heinrich. Lexikon deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten. -Leipzig, 1806-1811. - -Koberstein, Karl August. Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur. -Leipzig, 1872-73. - -Koch, Max. Ueber die Beziehungen der englischen Literatur zur deutschen -im 18. Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1883. - -Kurz, Heinrich. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Leipzig, 1876-81. - -Leipziger Musen-Almanach. Leipzig, 1776-87. Editor, 1776-78, Friedrich -Traugott Hase. - -Longo, Joseph. Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi. Programm. Krems, -1898. - -Magazin der deutschen Critik. Halle, 1772-1776. Edited by Gottlob -Benedict Schirach. - -Mager, A. Wielands Nachlass des Diogenes von Sinope und das englische -Vorbild. Abhandlung. Marburg, 1890. - -Meusel, Johann Georg. Das gelehrte Deutschland, oder Lexicon der jetzt -lebenden deutschen Schriftsteller. Lemgo, 1796-1806. - -Meusel, Johann Georg. Lexicon der von 1750 bis 1800 verstorbenen -teutschen Schriftsteller. Leipzig, 1802-16. - -Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Kiel, 1793-1800. Edited by Bohn. -Berlin und Stettin, 1801-1805. Edited by Nicolai. - -Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und der freyen Künste. -Leipzig, 1765-1806. Edited first by Chr. Felix Weisse, then by the -publisher Dyk. - -Neue Critische Nachrichten. Greifswald, 1750-1807. Editor from 1779 was -Georg Peter Möller, professor of history at Greifswald. - -Neues Bremisches Magazin. Bremen, 1766-1771. - -Neue Hallische Gelehrte Zeitung. Founded by Klotz in 1766, and edited by -him 1766-71, then by Philipp Ernst Bertram, 1772-77. - -Neue litterarische Unterhaltungen. Breslau, bey Korn der ä 1774-75. - -Neue Mannigfaltigkeiten. Eine gemeinnützige Wochenschrift, follows -Mannigfaltigheiten which ran from Sept., 1769 to May, 1773, and in June -1773, the new series began. Berlin. Vol. II, pp. 97-106. Life of Sterne. - -Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen. 1715-1785. At the latter date the -title was changed to Neue Litteratur Zeitung. Leipzig. - -Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unserer Zeit. Leipzig, -1870. Vol. IV, 1875. Vol. IV, pp. 272 ff, Studien über den Englischen -Roman. - -Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur von Leibnitz bis -auf unsere Zeit. Berlin, 1886-96. - -Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland von -Leibnitz bis auf Lessing’s Tod, 1681-1781. Leipzig, I, 1862; II, 1864. - -Schröder, Lexicon Hamburgischer Schriftsteller. Hamburg, 1851-83, 8 -vols. - -Springer, Robert. Essays zur Kritik und zur Goethe-Literatur. “War -Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz Sternes?” Minden i. W., 1885. - -Teutscher Mercur. Weimar, 1773-89. And Neuer deutscher Merkur. Weimar, -1790-1810. Edited by Wieland, Reinhold and Böttiger. - -Unterhaltungen. Hamburg bey Bock, 1767-70. Edited by J. J. Eschenburg, -I-IV; Albrecht Wittenberg, V; Christoph Dan. Ebeling, VI-X. - -(Der) Wandsbecker Bothe. Edited by Matthias Claudius. Wandsbeck, -1771-75. - - - - -INDEX OF PROPER NAMES - - - Abbt, 43. - Abel, J. F., 170. - Addison, 157. - Alberti, 26, 27, 46. - - Behrens, Johanna Friederike, 87. - Benzler, J. L., 61, 62. - Blankenburg, 5, 8, 139. - Bock, Joh. Chr., 93, 127, 129-133, 136. - Bode, J. J. C., 15, 16, 24, 34, 37, 38, 40-62, 67, 76, 90, 94, - 106, 115. - Bodmer, 75. - Boie, 59, 131. - Bondeli, Julie v., 30, 31. - Bonstetten, 89. - Böttiger, C. A., 38, 42-44, 48, 49, 52, 58, 77, 81. - Brandon, J., 82. - Brockes, 37. - Burney, Frances, 37. - Burton, 77. - Butler, 6, 29. - - Campe, J. H., 43, 164-166. - Carr, John, 14. - Cervantes, 6, 23, 26, 60, 168, 178. - Chappelle, 35, 112. - Claudius, 59, 133, 157-158. - Combe, Wm., 69. - - Defoe, 3. - Denis, 10, 75, 166. - Draper, Eliza, 64-70, 89, 114, 176. - - Eberhard, 5. - Ebert, 10, 26, 44-46, 59, 62. - Eckermann, 98, 101, 104. - Einsiedel, 59. - Eschenburg, 2. - - Ferber, J. C. C., 84. - Ferriar, 77, 78. - Fielding, 4, 6, 10, 23, 58, 60, 96, 145, 154. - Forster, 12. - Frenais, 60. - - Garrick, 66, 161. - Garve, 22, 135. - Gay, 92. - Gebler, 90. - Gellert, 32, 37, 120. - Gellius, 76, 92. - Gerstenberg, 59. - Gleim, 2, 3, 59, 85-87, 112, 152. - Göchhausen, 88, 140-144, 181. - Göchhausen, Fräulein v., 59. - Goeckingk, 162-3. - Goethe, 40, 41, 59, 75, 77, 85, 91, 97-109, 126, 153, 156, 167, - 168, 170, 180. - Goeze, 27, 48. - Goldsmith, 10, 98. - Göschen, Georg. Joachim, 134-135. - Griffith, Richard, 74-75. - Grotthus, Sara v., 40-41. - - Hamann, 28, 29, 59, 69, 71, 97, 153. - Hartknoch, 28, 32, 97. - Hebbel, 88, 153. - Hedemann, 136-138. - Heine, H., 103. - Heinse, 152. - Herder, 5, 7, 8, 28, 29, 32, 59, 97, 99, 156. - Herder, Caroline Flachsland, 89, 99, 152. - Hermes, 2, 8, 109. - Hippel, 6, 59, 101, 155. - Hofmann, J. C., 88. - Hopffgarten, 93. - Hopfner, 69. - Hume, 63. - - Ireland, 80. - - Jacobi, 59, 85-90, 112-114, 131, 136, 139, 142, 143. - Jung-Stilling, 99. - - Kästner, 30. - Kaufmann, 88. - Kirchberger, 30. - Kirsten, 93. - Klausing, A. E., 72. - Klopstock, 37, 51, 59. - Klotz, 21, 114. - Knebel, 109, 152. - Knigge, 91, 93, 110, 154, 166. - Kölbele, 52. - Koran, 74-76, 92, 95, 103-108, 153. - Kotzebue, 133-34. - Krummacher, 153. - - Lenz, 152. - Lessing, 24-28, 40-46, 59, 62, 77, 97, 109, 156. - Leuchsenring, 88. - Lichtenberg, 4, 78, 84, 158-60. - Liscow, 3, 24. - - Matthison, 60, 89, 152. - de Medalle, Lydia Sterne, 64, 68, 69. - Medicus, Wilhelm Ludwig, 69. - Mendelssohn, 24, 43, 109, 110. - Merck, 89, 99, 139. - Meyer, Aug. Wilh., 83. - Miller, J. M., 168, 170, 173, 180. - Mittelstedt, 46-47, 55-57, 115. - Montaigne, 60. - Moritz, K. P., 168. - Möser, 7, 166. - Müchler, K. F., 79. - Murray, Rev. James, 71. - Musäus, 10, 91, 138, 152, 153, 158. - - Nicolai, 27, 40, 43, 77, 78, 110; - Sebaldus Nothanker, 6, 88, 110, 150. - Nicolay, Ludwig Heinrich v., 158. - Nonne, 93. - - Opitz, Christian, 127. - Ossian, 10. - - Paterson, Sam’l, 79. - Percy, Bishop, 2, 10. - - Raabe, Wilhelm, 153. - Rabelais, 60. - Rabenau, A. G. F., 138. - Rahmel, A. W. L., 166. - Ramler, 90. - Richardson, 4, 10, 31, 43, 96, 179. - Richter, Jean Paul, 75, 91, 155. - Riedel, 29-30, 32, 54, 109, 125. - la Roche, Sophie, 139. - Rousseau, 4, 71. - - Sattler, J. P., 8. - Schiller, 135, 153. - Schink, J. F., 80-82. - Schirach, 109. - Schmidt, Klamer, 60. - Schubart, 107. - Schummel, 59, 93, 114-129, 136, 140. - Schwager, 138. - Seidelinn, 153. - Shadwell, 25. - Smollett, 63. - Sonnenfels, 125. - Stephanie, d. j., 153. - Stevenson, J. H., 44-53, 57, 64, 81, 105. - Stolberg, 61. - Sturz, 160-162. - Swift, 69, 146, 157, 160. - - v. Thümmel, 93, 135, 155. - Timme, 168-179. - - Usteri, 30. - - Wagner, H. L., 41, 157. - Wegener, 150-151. - Weisse, Chr. Felix, 68. - Wezel, 110, 138, 144-150, 179-181. - Wieland, 10, 14, 31, 32, 42, 59, 61, 73, 90, 93-99, 103, 146, - 156, 181. - Wilkes, 64. - Wittenberg, 53, 87. - v. Wolzogen, 153. - - Young, 7, 10, 149-150. - - Zelter, 98, 102. - Ziegler, Louise v. (Lila), 89. - Zimmermann, 31, 59. - Zückert, 12-18, 22, 31, 32, 37, 58-60, 99. - - - * * * * * - * * * * - -Errors and Inconsistencies - -German text is unchanged unless there was an unambiguous error, or the -text could be checked against other sources. Most quoted material is -contemporary with Sterne; spellings such as “bey” and “Theil” are -standard. - -Missing letters or punctuation marks are genuinely absent, not merely -invisible. Ellipsis (. . .) is shown as printed, as is any adjoining -punctuation. - -The variation between “title page” and “title-page” is unchanged. -Punctuation of “ff” is unchanged; at mid-sentence there is usually no -following period. Hyphenization of phrases such as “a twelve-year old” -is consistent. - - -Chapter I - - the unstored mind [_unchanged_] - -Chapter II - - des vaterländischen Geschmack entwickeln - [_unchanged: error for “den”?_] - Vol. I, St. 2, pp. 245-251, 1772 [245-251.] - Bode, the successful and honored translator [sucessful] - sends it as such to “my uncle, Tobias Shandy.” - [_open quote missing_] - Ich bin an seine Sentiments zum Theil schon so gewöhnt [go] - Footnote 48: . . . . in Auszug aus den Werken [Auzug] - Julie von Bondeli[52] [Von] - frequent references to other English celebrities [refrences] - “How many have understood it?” [understod] - -Chapter III - - He says of the first parts of the Sentimental Journey, [Journay] - the _Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_;[19] - [Nachrichten_;” with superfluous close quote] - Footnote 19: ... prominent Hamburg periodical.] [perodical] - eine Reise heissen, bey der [be] - It may well be that, as Böttiger hints,[24] [Bottiger] - Footnote 24: See foot note to page lxiii.] [_two words_] - Bode’s translation in the Allgemeine [Allegemeine] - has been generally accepted [generaly] - -Chapter IV - - manages to turn it at once with the greatest delicacy [delicay] - the Journey which is here mentioned.”[31] [mentionad] - Footnote 34: ... (LII, pp. 370-371) [_missing )_] - he is probably building on the incorrect statement [incorect] - Footnote 87: ... Berlin, 1810 [810]. - “Die Schöne Obstverkäuferin” [“Die “Schöne] - -Chapter V - - Footnote 3 ... Anmerk. 24 [Anmerk,] - Animae quales non candidiores terra tulit.” [_missing close quote_] - “like Grenough’s tooth-tincture [_missing open quote_] - founding an order of “Empfindsamkeit.” [_missing close quote_] - Footnote 24 ... “Der Teufel auf Reisen,” [Riesen] - Footnote 27 ... _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ [Allg deutsche] - Sein Seelchen auf den Himmel [gen Himmel] - In an article in the _Horen_ (1795, V. Stück,) [V Stück] - Footnote 84 ... G. B. Mendelssohn [G. B Mendelssohn] - -Chapter VI - - re-introducing a sentimental relationship. [relationiship] - nach Erfindung der Buchdrukerkunst [_unchanged_] - “Ueber die roten und schwarzen Röcke,” [_“Röke” without close quote] - the twelve irregularly printed lines [twleve] - conventional thread of introduction [inroduction] - an appropriate proof of incapacity [incaapcity] - [Footnote 23 ... Litteratur-geschichte [_hyphen in original_] - Footnote 35 ... p. 28. [_final . missing_] - [Footnote 38 ... a rather full analysis [nalysis] - multifarious and irrelevant topics [mutifarious] - Goethe replies (December 30), in approval, and exclaims [exlaims] - laughed heartily at some of the whims.”[49] [_missing close quote_] - [Footnote 52 ... Hademann as author [auther] - für diesen schreibe ich dieses Kapitel nicht [fur] - [Footnote 69 ... _July_ 1, 1774 [_italics in original_] - Darauf denke ich, soll jedermanniglich vom 22. Absatze fahren - [_“vom. 22. Absatze” with extra space after “22.” as if for - a new sentence_] - accompanied by typographical eccentricities [typograhical] - the relationships of trivial things [relationiships] - Herr v. ** and Herr v. *** [_asterisks unchanged_] - -Chapter VII - - expressed themselves quite unequivocally [themsleves] - the pleasure of latest posterity.” [_final . missing_] - “regarded his taste as insulted because I sent him “Yorick’s - Empfindsame Reise.”[3] - [_mismatched quotation marks unchanged_] - Georg Christopher Lichtenberg.[7] - [Lichtenberg.” with superfluous close quote] - Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass: Aufsätze, Gedichte, Tagebuchblätter - [_“Gedichte Tagebuchblätter” without comma_] - Doch lass’ ich, wenn mir’s Kurzweil schafft [schaft] - a poem named “Empfindsamkeiten [Enpfindsamkeiten] - A poet cries [croes] - “Faramond’s Familiengeschichte,”[46] - [_inconsistent apostrophe unchanged: compare footnote_] - sondern mich zu bedauern!’ [_inner close quote conjectural_] - Ruhe deinem Staube [dienem] - the neighboring village is in flames [nieghboring] - Footnote 67 ... [_all German spelling in this footnote unchanged_] - “Die Tausend und eine Masche, oder Yoricks wahres Shicksall, - ein blaues Mährchen von Herrn Stanhope” [_all spelling unchanged] - - -[The Bibliography is shown in the Table of Contents as “Chapter VIII”, -but was printed without a chapter header.] - -Bibliography (England) - - Life of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald [Lift] - b. The Sentimental Journey [Jonrney] - -Bibliography (Germany) - - The Koran, etc. Wien, 1798. [1798).] - Tristram Schandi’s Leben und Meynungen ... III, pp. 210 [p. 210] - durch Frankreich und Italien, übersetzt von A. Lewald. [Italien.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laurence Sterne in Germany, by -Harvey Waterman Thayer - + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Transcriber’s Note: + +This text uses utf-8 (unicode) file encoding. If the apostrophes and +quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, make sure your +text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode +(UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. As a last +resort, use the latin-1 version of the file instead. + +Forms such as 8^o, 12^o with superscript “o” have been changed to 8vo, +12mo. Typographical errors are listed at the end of the text.] + + + + + LAURENCE STERNE + IN GERMANY + + A Contribution to the Study of the + Literary Relations of England and + Germany in the Eighteenth Century + + + By + + HARVEY WATERMAN THAYER, Ph.D. + + Sometime Fellow in Germanic Languages and + Literatures, Columbia University + + + + +Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press, New York + + + + +NOTE + + +Mr. Thayer has undertaken to write, in detail and from the sources, the +history of Sterne’s vogue in Germany. As thus broadly defined the task +had not before been attempted, although phases of it had been treated, +more or less thoroughly, in recent monographs. The work here submitted, +the result of careful research in a number of American and European +libraries, is in my judgment an interesting and valuable contribution to +our knowledge of the literary relations of England and Germany at the +time of the great renascence of German letters. + + CALVIN THOMAS. + + Columbia University, May, 1905. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following study was begun in the autumn of 1901, and was practically +finished now more than a year ago. Since its completion two works of +interest to lovers of Sterne have been issued, Czerny’s study of +Sterne’s influence upon Hippel and Jean Paul, a work which the present +author had planned as a continuation of this book, and Prof. Cross’s new +definitive edition of Sterne. + +I desire here to express my thanks to Prof. W. H. Carpenter, Prof. +Calvin Thomas and Prof. W. P. Trent, under whose guidance my last year +of University residence was spent: their interest in my work was +generous and unfailing; their admirable scholarship has been and will +continue to be an inspiration. I am indebted to Prof. Carpenter and +Prof. Thomas for many helpful suggestions regarding the present work, +and the latter especially has given freely of his valuable time to a +consideration of my problems. I am grateful also to several other +friends for helpful and kindly service, and to many librarians in this +country and in Europe for their courtesy. + + NEW YORK, May 1, 1905. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Chapter I. Introduction 1 + + Chapter II. Sterne in Germany before the Publication + of The Sentimental Journey 9 + + Chapter III. The Publication of The Sentimental Journey 35 + + Chapter IV. Sterne in Germany after the Publication of + The Sentimental Journey 55 + + Chapter V. Sterne’s Influence in Germany 84 + + Chapter VI. Imitators of Sterne 112 + + Chapter VII. Opposition to Sterne and His Type of + Sentimentalism 156 + + Chapter VIII. Bibliography 183 + + Index 196 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +The indebtedness of German culture to other peoples has been the theme +of much painstaking investigation. The history of German literature is, +in large measure, the story of its successive periods of connection with +the literatures of other lands, and hence scholars have sought with +industry and insight to bound and explain such literary inter-relations. + +The latter half of the eighteenth century was a period of predominant +English influence. The first half of the century had fostered this +ascendency through the popularity of the moral weeklies, the religious +epic, and the didactic poetry of Britain. Admiration for English ideals +was used as a weapon to combat French dominion in matters of taste, till +a kind of Anglomania spread, which was less absolute than the waning +Gallomania had been, only in such measure as the nature of the imitated +lay nearer the German spirit and hence allowed and cherished a parallel +independence rather than demanded utter subjection. Indeed, the study of +English masters may be said to have contributed more than any other +external cause to the golden age of German letters; to have worked with +untold beneficence in bringing faltering Germany to a consciousness of +her own inherent possibilities. This fact of foreign awakening of +national greatness through kinship of inborn racial characteristics +removes the seeming inconsistency that British influence was paramount +at the very time of Germany’s most individual, most national, outburst. + +The German literary world concerned itself zealously with each new +development across the channel. The German literary periodicals were +diligent and alert in giving their subscribers adequate intelligence +concerning new books in England,[1] and various journals[2] devoted +exclusively to a retailing of English thought for German readers are by +their very existence eloquent testimony to the supreme interest in +things British. Through the medium of these literary journals, +intelligence concerning British literary interests was disseminated, +and the way was thus prepared for the reception of the British authors +themselves. Every English writer of eminence, every English literary +movement was in some way or other echoed in the literature of the German +fatherland. English authors were read in the original, and in numerous +and popular translations. A German following is a well-nigh certain +inference from an English success. Sometimes the growth of German +appreciation and imitation was immediate and contemporaneous, or nearly +so, with the English interest, as in the case of the German enthusiasm +for Bishop Percy’s “Reliques.” At other times it tarried behind the +period of interest in England, and was gradual in its development. The +suggestion that a book, especially a novel, was translated from the +English was an assurance of its receiving consideration, and many +original German novels were published under the guise of English +translations. Hermes roguishly avoids downright falsehood, and yet +avails himself of this popular trend by describing his “Miss Fanny +Wilkes” upon the title page as “So gut als aus dem Englischen +übersetzt,” and printing “so gut als” in very small type. Müller in a +letter[3] to Gleim, dated at Cassel, May 27, 1781, proposes to alter +names in Liscow’s works and to publish his books as an English +translation: “Germany would read him with delight,” he says, and Gleim, +in his reply, finds the idea “splendid.” Out of this one reads clearly +how the Germany of that time was hanging on the lips of England. + +As has been suggested, conscious or unconscious imitation in the home +literature is the unavoidable result of admiration for the foreign; +imitation of English masters is written large on this period of German +letters. Germany is especially indebted to the stirring impulse of the +English novel. + +The intellectual development of a people is observable in its successive +periods of interest in different kinds of narration, in its attitude +toward the relation of fictitious events. The interest in the +extraordinary always precedes that in the ordinary; the unstored mind +finds pleasure only in the unusual. An appreciation of the absorbing, +vital interest of everyday existence is the accomplishment of reflective +training, and betokens the spiritualized nature. Yet it must be observed +in passing that the crude interest of unschooled ignorance, and +undeveloped taste in the grotesque, the monstrous, the unreal, is not +the same as the intellectual man’s appreciation of the unreal in +imagination and fancy. The German novel had passed its time of service +under the wild, extraordinary and grotesque. The crudities of such tales +of adventure were softened and eliminated by the culturing influence of +formal classicism and by a newly won admiration for the everyday element +in life, contemporaneous with and dependent upon the gradual +appreciation of middle-class worth. At this point the English novel +stepped in as a guide, and the gradual shaping of the German novel in +the direction of an art-form is due primarily to the prevailing +admiration of English models. + +The novel has never been a characteristic method of German +self-expression, while if any form of literary endeavor can be +designated as characteristically English, the novel may claim this +distinction; that is, more particularly the novel as distinguished from +the romance. “Robinson Crusoe” (1719) united the elements of the +extraordinary and the everyday, being the practical, unromantic account +of a remarkable situation; and its extensive vogue in Germany, the +myriad confessed imitations, may be said to form a kind of transition +of interests. In it the commonplace gains interest through the +extraordinary situation. Such an awakening assures a certain measure +of interest remaining over for the detailed relation of the everyday +activities of life, when removed from the exceptional situation. Upon +this vantage ground the novel of everyday life was built. Near the +mid-century comes another mighty influence from England, Richardson, +who brings into the narration of middle-class, everyday existence, the +intense analysis of human sensibilities. Richardson taught Germany to +remodel her theories of heroism, her whole system of admirations, her +conception of deserts. Rousseau’s voice from France spoke out a stirring +appeal for the recognition of human feelings. Fielding, though attacking +Richardson’s exaggeration of manner, and opposing him in his excess of +emotionalism, yet added a forceful influence still in favor of the real, +present and ordinary, as exemplified in the lives of vigorous human +beings. + +England’s leadership in narrative fiction, the superiority of the +English novel, especially the humorous novel, which was tacitly +acknowledged by these successive periods of imitation, when not actually +declared by the acclaim of the critic and the preference of the reading +public, has been attributed quite generally to the freedom of life in +England and the comparative thraldom in Germany. Gervinus[4] enlarges +upon this point, the possibility in Britain of individual development in +character and in action as compared with the constraint obtaining in +Germany, where originality, banished from life, was permissible only in +opinion. His ideas are substantially identical with those expressed many +years before in an article in the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen +Wissenschaften_[5] entitled “Ueber die Laune.” Lichtenberg in his brief +essay, “Ueber den deutschen Roman,”[6] is undoubtedly more than half +serious in his arraignment of the German novel and his acknowledgment of +the English novelist’s advantage: the trend of this satirical skit +coincides with the opinion above outlined, the points he makes being +characteristic of his own humorous bent. That the English sleep in +separate apartments, with big chimneys in their bedchambers, that they +have comfortable post-chaises with seats facing one another, where all +sorts of things may happen, and merry inns for the accommodation of the +traveler,--these features of British life are represented as affording a +grateful material to the novelist, compared with which German life +offers no corresponding opportunity. Humor, as a characteristic element +of the English novel, has been felt to be peculiarly dependent upon the +fashion of life in Britain. Blankenburg, another eighteenth-century +student of German literary conditions, in his treatise on the novel[7], +has similar theories concerning the sterility of German life as compared +with English, especially in the production of humorous characters[8]. He +asserts theoretically that humor (Laune) should never be employed in a +novel of German life, because “Germany’s political institutions and +laws, and our nice Frenchified customs would not permit this humor.” “On +the one side,” he goes on to say, “is Gothic formality; on the other, +frivolity.” Later in the volume (p. 191) he confines the use of humorous +characters to subordinate rôles; otherwise, he says, the tendency to +exaggeration would easily awaken displeasure and disgust. Yet in a +footnote, prompted by some misgiving as to his theory, Blankenburg +admits that much is possible to genius and cites English novels where a +humorous character appears with success in the leading part; thus the +theorist swerves about, and implies the lack of German genius in this +regard. Eberhard in his “Handbuch der Aesthetik,”[9] in a rather +unsatisfactory and confused study of humor, expresses opinions agreeing +with those cited above, and states that in England the feeling of +independence sanctions the surrender of the individual to eccentric +humor: hence England has produced more humorists than all the rest of +the world combined. There is, however, at least one voice raised to +explain in another way this deficiency of humor in German letters. +A critic in the _Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[10] attributes +this lack not to want of original characters but to a lack of men like +Cervantes, Ben Jonson, Butler, Addison, Fielding. + +There is undoubtedly some truth in both points of view, but the defects +of the eighteenth century German novel are due in larger measure to the +peculiar mental organization of German authorship than to lack of +interesting material in German life. The German novel was crushed under +the weight of pedantry and pedagogy. Hillebrand strikes the root of the +matter when he says,[11] “We are all schoolmasters, even Hippel could +not get away from the tutorial attitude.” The inborn necessity of German +culture is to impart information, to seek recruits for the maintenance +of some idea, to exploit some political, educational, or moral theory. +This irresistible impulse has left its trail over German fiction. +The men who wrote novels, as soon as they began to observe, began to +theorize, and the results of this speculation were inevitably embodied +in their works. They were men of mind rather than men of deeds, who +minimized the importance of action and exaggerated the reflective, +the abstract, the theoretical, the inner life of man. Hettner,[12] with +fine insight, points to the introduction to “Sebaldus Nothanker” as +exhibiting the characteristic of this epoch of fiction. Speculation was +the hero’s world, and in speculation lay for him the important things of +life; he knew not the real world, hence speculation concerning it was +his occupation. Consequential connection of events with character makes +the English novel the mirror of English life. Failure to achieve such a +union makes the German novel a mirror of speculative opinions concerning +life. + +Hence we have Germany in the mid-eighteenth century prepared to accept +and adopt any literary dogma, especially when stamped with an English +popularity, which shall represent an interest rather in extraordinary +characters and unusual opinions than in astounding adventure; which +shall display a knowledge of human feeling and foster the exuberant +expression of it. + +Beside the devotees of any literary fashion are those who analyze +philosophically the causes, and forecast the probable results of such a +following. Thinking Germany became exercised over these facts of +successive intellectual and literary dependence, as indicative of +national limitations or foreboding disintegration. And thought was +accordingly directed to the study of the influence of imitation upon the +imitator, the effects of the imitative process upon national +characteristics, as well as the causes of imitation, the fundamental +occasion for national bondage in matters of life and letters. The part +played by Dr. Edward Young’s famous epistle to Richardson, “Conjectures +on Original Composition” (London, 1759), in this struggle for +originality is considerable. The essay was reprinted, translated and +made the theme of numerous treatises and discussions.[13] One needs only +to mention the concern of Herder, as displayed in the “Fragmente über +die neuere deutsche Litteratur,” and his statement[14] with reference to +the predicament as realized by thoughtful minds may serve as a summing +up of that part of the situation. “Seit der Zeit ist keine Klage lauter +and häufiger als über den Mangel von Originalen, von Genies, von +Erfindern, Beschwerden über die Nachahmungs- und gedankenlose +Schreibsucht der Deutschen.” + +This thoughtful study of imitation itself was accompanied by more or +less pointed opposition to the heedless importation of foreign views, +and protests, sometimes vigorous and keen, sometimes flimsy and silly, +were entered against the slavish imitation of things foreign. Endeavor +was turned toward the establishment of independent ideals, and the +fostering of a taste for the characteristically national in literature, +as opposed to frank imitation and open borrowing.[15] + +The story of Laurence Sterne in Germany is an individual example of +sweeping popularity, servile admiration, extensive imitation and +concomitant opposition. + + + [Footnote 1: This is well illustrated by the words prefaced to the + revived and retitled _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, which state + the purpose of the periodical: “Besonders wird man für den + Liebhaber der englischen Litteratur dahin sorgen, dass ihm kein + einziger Artikel, der seiner Aufmerksamkeit würdig ist, entgehe, + und die Preise der englischen Bücher wo möglich allzeit bemerken.” + (_Frankfurter gel. Anz._, 1772, No. 1, January 3.)] + + [Footnote 2: Elze, “Die Englische Sprache und Litteratur in + Deutschland,” gives what purports to be a complete list of these + German-English periodicals in chronological order, but he begins + his register with Eschenburg’s _Brittisches Museum für die + Deutschen_, 1777-81, thus failing to mention the more significant, + because earlier, journals: _die Brittische Bibliothek_, which + appeared first in 1759 in Leipzig, edited by Karl Wilhelm Müller: + and _Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, Künste + und Tugend, Von einigen Liebhabern derselben mehrentheils aus den + Englischen Monatsschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben_, Bremen + and Leipzig, 1757-1766, when the _Neues Bremisches Magazin_ + begins.] + + [Footnote 3: Briefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleim’s Nachlass. + Bd. II, p. 213.] + + [Footnote 4: “Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung,” V, pp. 184 ff. + The comparative inferiority of the German novel is discussed by + l’Abbé Dénina in “La Prusse Littéraire sous Frédéric II,” Berlin, + 1791. Vol. I, pp. 112 ff. See also Julian Schmidt, “Bilder aus dem + geistigen Leben unserer Zeit.” Leipzig, 1870. IV, pp. 270 ff.] + + [Footnote 5: III, pp. 1 ff.] + + [Footnote 6: Vermischte Schriften, II, p. 215.] + + [Footnote 7: “Versuch über den Roman.” Frankfort and Leipzig, + 1774, p. 528. This study contains frequent allusions to Sterne and + occasional quotation from his works, pp. 48, 191, 193, 200, 210, + 273, 351, 365, 383, 426.] + + [Footnote 8: There is a similar tribute to English humor in “Ueber + die moralische Schönheit und Philosophie des Lebens.” Altenburg, + 1772, p. 199. Compare also Herder’s opinion in “Ideen zur + Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und bildenden Künste,” 1794-96, + No. 49, in “Abhandlungen und Briefe über schöne Literatur und + Kunst.” Tübingen, 1806, I, pp. 375-380; compare also passages in + his “Fragmente” and “Wäldchen.”] + + [Footnote 9: Second edition, Halle, 1807, II, pp. 309 ff. The + definition of humor and the perplexing question as to how far it + is identical with “Laune,” have received considerable attention at + the hands of aesthetic critics; compare, for example, Lessing in + the “Hamburgische Dramaturgie.”] + + [Footnote 10: VII. p. 353. 1761.] + + [Footnote 11: “Deutsche Nationalliteratur,” II, p. 535. Hamburg, + 1850.] + + [Footnote 12: “Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im achtzehnten + Jahrhundert,” III, 1, pp. 363 ff.] + + [Footnote 13: See Introduction to “Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten + der Litteratur” in Seuffert’s Deutsche Litteraturdenkmale des 18. + und 19. Jahrhunderts. The literature of this study of imitation in + the Germany of the second half of the eighteenth century is + considerable. The effort of much in the Litteratur-Briefe may be + mentioned as contributing to this line of thought. The prize + question of the Berlin Academy for 1788 brought forth a book + entitled: “Wie kann die Nachahmung sowohl alter als neuer fremden + Werke der schönen Wissenschaften des vaterländischen Geschmack + entwickeln und vervollkommnen?” by Joh. Chr. Schwabe, professor in + Stuttgart. (Berlin, pp. 120; reviewed in _Allg. Litt. Zeitung._ + 1790. I, pp. 632-640.) Perhaps the first English essay upon German + imitation of British masters is that in the _Critical Journal_, + Vol. III, which was considered of sufficient moment for a German + translation. See _Morgenblatt_, I, Nr. 162, July 8, 1807. A writer + in the _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neusten deutschen Litteratur_ + (Lemgo, 1772-3), in an article entitled “Vom Zustande des + Geschmacks beim deutschen Publikum,” traces the tendency to + imitate to the German capacity for thinking rather than for + feeling. (III, pp. 683 ff.) “Das deutsche Publikum,” he says, + “scheint dazu bestimmt zu seyn, nachzuahmen, nachzuurtheilen, + nachzuempfinden.” Justus Möser condemns his fellow countrymen + soundly for their empty imitation. See fragment published in + “Sämmtliche Werke,” edited by B. R. Abeken. Berlin, 1858. IV, + pp. 104-5.] + + [Footnote 14: Herder’s sämmtliche Werke, edited by B. Suphan, + Berlin, Weidman, 1877, I, 254. In the tenth fragment (second + edition) he says the Germans have imitated other nations, “so dass + Nachahmer beinahe zum Beiwort und zur zweiten Sylbe unseres Namens + geworden.” See II, p. 51. Many years later Herder does not seem to + view this period of imitation with such regret as the attitude of + these earlier criticisms would forecast. In the “Ideen zur + Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und bildenden Künste,” 1794-96, + he states with a burst of enthusiasm over the adaptability of the + German language that he regards imitation as no just reproach, for + thereby has Germany become immeasurably the richer.] + + [Footnote 15: The kind of praise bestowed on Hermes’s “Sophiens + Reise” is a case in point; it was greeted as the first real German + novel, the traces of English imitation being hardly noticeable. + See _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, Vol. I, St. 2, pp. 245-251, + 1772, signed “Kl.” Sattler’s “Friederike” was accorded a similar + welcome of German patriotism; see _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, + III, St. 1, p. 233. The “Litterarische Reise durch Deutschland” + (Leipzig, 1786, p. 82) calls “Sophiens Reise” the first original + German novel. See also the praise of Von Thümmel’s “Wilhelmine” + and “Sophiens Reise” in Blankenburg’s “Versuch über den Roman,” + pp. 237-9. Previously Germans had often hesitated to lay the + scenes of their novels in Germany, and in many others English + characters traveling or residing in Germany supply the un-German + element.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +STERNE IN GERMANY BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY + + +It is no exaggeration to assert that the works of Yorick obtained and +still retain a relatively more substantial position of serious +consideration and recognized merit in France and Germany than in the +countries where Sterne’s own tongue is spoken.[1] His place among the +English classics has, from the foreign point of view, never been a +dubious question, a matter of capricious taste and unstable ideals. His +peculiar message, whether interpreted and insisted upon with clearness +of insight, or blindness of misunderstanding, played its not unimportant +part in certain developments of continental literatures, and his station +in English literature, as viewed from a continental standpoint, is +naturally in part the reflex of the magnitude of his influence in the +literature of France and Germany, rather than an estimate obtained +exclusively from the actual worth of his own accomplishment, and the +nature of his own service as a leader and innovator in English letters. + +Sterne’s career in German literature, the esteem in which his own works +have been held, and the connection between the sentimental, whimsical, +contradictory English clergyman and his German imitators have been +noted, generally speaking, by all the historians of literature; and +several monographs and separate articles have been published on single +phases of the theme.[2] As yet, however, save for the investigations +which treat only of two or three authors, there has been hardly more +than the general statement of the facts, often inadequate, incomplete, +and sometimes inexact. + +Sterne’s period of literary activity falls in the sixties, the very +heyday of British supremacy in Germany. The fame of Richardson was +hardly dimmed, though Musäus ridiculed his extravagances in “Grandison +der Zweite” (1760) at the beginning of the decade. In 1762-66 Wieland’s +Shakespeare translation appeared, and his original works of the period, +“Agathon,” begun in 1761, and “Don Silvio von Rosalva,” published in +1764, betray the influence of both Richardson and Fielding. Ebert +(1760--) revised and republished his translation of Young’s “Night +Thoughts,” which had attained popularity in the previous decade. +Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield” (1766) aroused admiration and +enthusiasm. To this time too belongs Ossian’s mighty voice. As early as +1762 the first bardic translations appeared, and Denis’s work came out +in 1768. Percy’s “Reliques,” published in England in 1765, were +extensively read and cited, a stimulating force to parallel German +activity. A selection from the “Reliques” appeared in Göttingen in 1767. + +The outlook maintained in Germany for the worthy in British thought, +the translatable, the reproducible, was so vigilant and, in general, +so discerning that the introduction of Yorick into Germany was all but +inevitable. The nature of the literary relations then obtaining and +outlined above would forecast and almost necessitate such an adoption, +and his very failure to secure recognition would demand an explanation. + +Before the publication of Tristram Shandy it would be futile to seek for +any knowledge of Sterne on German soil. He had published, as is well +known, two sermons preached on occasions of note; and a satirical skit, +with kindly purpose, entitled “The History of a Good Warm Watchcoat,” +had been written, privately circulated, and then suppressed; yet he was +an unknown and comparatively insignificant English clergyman residing in +a provincial town, far, in those days very far, from those centers of +life which sent their enlightenment over the channel to the continent. +His fame was purely local. His sermons had, without doubt, rendered the +vicar of Sutton a rather conspicuous ecclesiastic throughout that +region; his eccentricities were presumably the talk of neighboring +parishes; the cathedral town itself probably tittered at his drolleries, +and chattered over his sentiments; his social graces undoubtedly found +recognition among county families and in provincial society, and his +reputation as a wit had probably spread in a vague, uncertain, +transitory fashion beyond the boundaries of the county. Yet the facts of +local notoriety and personal vogue are without real significance save in +the light of later developments; and we may well date his career in the +world of books from the year 1760, when the London world began to smile +over the first volumes of Tristram Shandy. From internal evidence in +these early volumes it is possible to note with some assurance the +progress of their composition and the approximate time of their +completion. In his wayward, fitful way, and possibly for his own +amusement more than with dreams of fame and fortune,[3] Sterne probably +began the composition of Shandy in January, 1759, and the completion of +the first installment is assigned to the summer or early autumn of that +year. At the end of the year[4] the first edition of the first two +volumes was issued in York, bearing the imprint of John Hinxham. Dodsley +and Cooper undertook the sale of the volumes in London, though the +former had declined to be responsible for the publication. They were +ready for delivery in the capital on the first day of the new year 1760. +Sterne’s fame was immediate; his personal triumph was complete and ranks +with the great successes in the history of our literature. On his +arrival in London in March, the world aristocratic, ecclesiastic, +and literary was eager to receive the new favorite, and his career of +bewildering social enjoyment, vigorous feasting and noteworthy privilege +began. “No one”, says Forster, “was so talked of in London this year +and no one so admired as the tall, thin, hectic-looking Yorkshire +parson.”[5] From this time on until his death Sterne was a most +conspicuous personage in English society, a striking, envied figure +in English letters. + +And yet it was some time before Germany learned of the new prodigy: for +reasons which will be treated later, the growth of the Sterne cult in +Germany was delayed, so that Yorick was in the plenitude of his German +fame when England had begun to look askance at him with critical, +fault-finding eye, or to accord him the more damning condemnation of +forgetfulness. + +The first mention of Sterne’s name in Germany may well be the brief word +in the _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_[6] for January 19, +1762, in a letter from the regular London correspondent, dated January +8. In a tone of particularity which would mark the introduction of a new +and strange personality into his communications, the correspondent +states the fact of Sterne’s departure for Paris in pursuit of lost +health. This journal may further be taken as an example of those which +devoted a remarkable amount of space to British affairs, since it was +published in the North German seaport town, where the mercantile +connection with Britain readily fostered the exchange of other than +purely commercial commodities. And yet in Hamburg Sterne waited full two +years for a scanty recognition even of his English fame. + +In the fourth year after the English publication of Shandy comes the +first attempt to transplant Sterne’s gallery of originals to German +shores. This effort, of rather dubious success, is the Zückert +translation of Tristram Shandy, a rendering weak and inaccurate, but +nevertheless an important first step in the German Shandy cult. Johann +Friedrich Zückert,[7] the translator, was born December 19, 1739, and +died in Berlin May 1, 1778. He studied medicine at the University of +Frankfurt an der Oder, became a physician in Berlin, but, because of +bodily disabilities, devoted himself rather to study and society than to +the practice of his profession. His publications are fairly numerous and +deal principally with medical topics, especially with the question of +foods. In the year after the appearance of his Shandy translation, +Zückert published an essay which indicates the direction of his tastes +and gives a clue to his interest in Tristram. It was entitled +“Medizinische und Moralische Abhandlung von den Leidenschaften,”[8] and +discloses a tendency on the part of the author to an analysis of the +passions and moods of man, an interest in the manner of their +generation, and the method of their working. This treatise was quite +probably written, or conceived, while its author was busied with Shandy, +and his division of the temperaments (p. 53) into the sanguine or warm +moist, the choleric or warm dry, the phlegmatic or cold moist, and the +melancholy or cold dry, is not unlike some of Walter Shandy’s +half-serious, half-jesting scientific theories, though, to be sure, it +falls in with much of the inadequate and ill-applied terminology of the +time. + +Zückert’s translation of the first six parts[9] of Tristram Shandy +appeared in 1763, and bore the imprint of the publisher Lange, Berlin +und Stralsund. The title read “Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn +Tristram Shandy,” the first of the long series of “Leben und Meynungen” +which flooded the literature of the succeeding decades, this becoming a +conventional title for a novel. It is noteworthy that until the +publication of parts VII and VIII in 1765, there is no mention of the +real author’s name. To these later volumes the translator prefaces a +statement which contains some significant intelligence concerning his +aim and his interpretation of Sterne’s underlying purpose. He says he +would never have ventured on the translation of so ticklish a book if he +had foreseen the difficulties; that he believed such a translation would +be a real service to the German public, and that he never fancied the +critics could hold him to the very letter, as in the rendering of a +classic author. He confesses to some errors and promises corrections in +a possible new edition. He begs the public to judge the translation in +accord with its purpose “to delight and enliven the public and to +acquaint the Germans with a really wonderful genius.” To substantiate +his statement relative to the obstacles in his way, he outlines in a few +words Sterne’s peculiar, perplexing style, as regards both use of +language and the arrangement of material. He conceives Sterne’s purpose +as a desire to expose to ridicule the follies of his countrymen and to +incorporate serious truths into the heart of his jesting. + +Since the bibliographical facts regarding the subsequent career of this +Zückert translation have been variously mangled and misstated, it may be +well, though it depart somewhat from the regular chronological order of +the narrative, to place this information here in connection with the +statement of its first appearance. The translation, as published in +1763, contained only the first six parts of Sterne’s work. In 1765 the +seventh and eighth parts were added, and in 1767 a ninth appeared, but +the latter was a translation of a spurious English original.[10] In +1769, the shrewd publisher began to issue a new and slightly altered +edition of the translation, which bore, however, on the title page “nach +einer neuen Uebersetzung” and the imprint, Berlin und Stralsund bey +Gottlieb August Langen, Parts I and II being dated 1769; Parts III and +IV, 1770; Parts V, VI, VII and VIII, 1771; Part IX, 1772. Volumes +III-VIII omit Stralsund as a joint place of publication. In 1773, when +it became noised abroad that Bode, the successful and honored translator +of the Sentimental Journey, was at work upon a German rendering of +Shandy, Lange once more forced his wares upon the market, this time +publishing the Zückert translation with the use of Wieland’s then +influential name on the title page, “Auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofraths +Wielands verfasst.” Wieland was indignant at this misuse of his name and +repudiated all connection with this “new translation.” This edition was +probably published late in 1773, as Wieland in his review in the +_Merkur_ gives it that date, but the volumes themselves bear the date of +1774.[11] We learn from the _Merkur_ (VI. 363) that Zückert was not +responsible for the use of Wieland’s name. + +These are the facts of the case. Meusel in his account of Zückert gives +the date of the first edition as 1774, and the second edition is +registered but the date is left blank. Jördens, probably depending on +the information given by the review in the _Merkur_, to which reference +is made, assigns 1773 as the date. This edition, as is shown above, is +really the third. + +This Zückert translation is first reviewed by the above mentioned +_Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_ in the issue for January +4, 1764. The review, however, was not calculated to lure the German +reader of the periodical to a perusal either of the original, or of the +rendering in question: it is concerned almost exclusively with a summary +of the glaring inaccuracies in the first nineteen pages of the work and +with correct translations of the same; and it is in no sense of the word +an appreciation of the book. The critic had read Shandy in the original, +and had believed that no German hack translator[12] would venture a +version in the language of the fatherland. It is a review which shows +only the learning of the reviewer, displays the weakness of the +translator, but gives no idea of the nature of the book itself, not even +a glimpse of the critic’s own estimate of the book, save the implication +that he himself had understood the original, though many Englishmen even +were staggered by its obtuseness and failed to comprehend the subtlety +of its allusion. It is criticism in the narrowest, most arrogant sense +of the word, destructive instead of informing, blinding instead of +illuminating. It is noteworthy that Sterne’s name is nowhere mentioned +in the review, nor is there a hint of Tristram’s English popularity. The +author of this unsigned criticism is not to be located with certainty, +yet it may well have been Bode, the later apostle of Sterne-worship in +Germany. Bode was a resident of Hamburg at this time, was exceptionally +proficient in English and, according to Jördens[13] and Schröder,[14] he +was in 1762-3 the editor of the _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer +Correspondent_. The precise date when Bode severed his connection with +the paper is indeterminate, yet this, the second number of the new year +1764, may have come under his supervision even if his official +connection ended exactly with the close of the old year. To be sure, +when Bode ten years later published his own version of Shandy, he +translated, with the exception of two rather insignificant cases, none +of the passages verbally the same as the reviewer in this journal, but +it would be unreasonable to attach any great weight to this fact. Eight +or nine years later, when undertaking the monumental task of rendering +the whole of Shandy into German, it is not likely that Bode would recall +the old translations he had made in this review or concern himself about +them. A brief comparison of the two sets of translations suggests that +the critic was striving merely for accuracy in correcting the errors of +Zückert, and that Bode in his formal translation shows a riper and more +certain feeling for the choice of words; the effect of purposeful +reflection is unmistakable. Of course this in no way proves Bode to have +been the reviewer, but the indications at least allow the probability. + +As was promised in the preface to Parts VII and VIII, to which reference +has already been made, the new edition was regarded as an opportunity +for correction of errors, but this bettering is accomplished with such +manifest carelessness and ignorance as to suggest a further possibility, +that the publisher, Lange, eager to avail himself of the enthusiasm for +Sterne, which burst out on the publication of the Sentimental Journey, +thrust this old translation on the public without providing for thorough +revision, or complete correction of flagrant errors. The following +quotations will suffice to demonstrate the inadequacy of the revision: + + ORIGINAL + + ZUECKERT TRANSLATION + + I, p. 6: Well, you may take my word that nine parts in ten of a + man’s sense or his nonsense, + + P. 5: Gut, ich gebe euch mein Wort, dass neun unter zehnmal eines + jeden Witz oder Dummheit. + + (The second edition replaces “Witz” by “Verstand,” which does not + alter the essential error of the rendering.) + + P. 7: The minutest philosophers. + + “Die strengsten Philosophen” remains unchanged in second edition. + + P. 7: Being guarded and circumscribed with rights. + + P. 3: “Ein Wesen das ebenfalls seine Vorzüge hat” is unaltered. + + P. 8: A most unaccountable obliquity in the manner of setting up + my top. + + Meine seltsame Ungeschicklichkeit meinen Kopf zu recht zu machen. + +This last astounding translation is retained in the second edition in +spite of the reviewers’ ridicule, but the most nonsensical of all the +renderings, whereby “the momentum of the coach horse was so great” +becomes “der Augenblick des Kutschpferdes war so gross” is fortunately +corrected.[15] + +These examples of slipshod alteration or careless retention contrast +quite unfavorably with the attitude of the translator in the preface to +parts VII and VIII, in which he confesses to the creeping in of errors +in consequence of the perplexities of the rendering, and begs for +“reminders and explanations” of this and that passage, thereby +displaying an eagerness to accept hints for emendation. This is +especially remarkable when it is noted that he has in the second edition +not even availed himself of the corrections given in the _Hamburgischer +unpartheyischer Correspondent_, and has allowed some of the most +extraordinary blunders to stand. These facts certainly favor the theory +that Zückert himself had little or nothing to do with the second edition +and its imperfect revision. This supposition finds further evidence in +the fact that the ninth part of Shandy, as issued by Lange in the second +(1772) and third (1774) editions, was still a translation of the +spurious English volume, although the fraud was well known and the +genuine volume was read and appreciated. Of this genuine last part Dr. +Zückert never made a translation. It may be remarked in passing that a +translation bristling with such errors, blunders which at times degrade +the text into utter nonsense, could hardly be an efficient one in +spreading appreciation of Shandy. + +A little more than a year after the review in the _Hamburgischer +unpartheyischer Correspondent_, which has been cited, the _Jenaische +Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ in the number dated March 1, 1765, +treats Sterne’s masterpiece in its German disguise. This is the first +mention of Sterne’s book in the distinctively literary journals. The +tone of this review is further that of an introducer of the new, and the +critique is manifestly inserted in the paper as an account of a new +book. The reviewer is evidently unaware of the author’s name, since the +words which accompany the title, from the English, are nowhere +elucidated, and no hint of authorship, or popularity in England, or +possible far-reaching appeal in Germany is traceable. The idea of the +hobby-horse is new to the reviewer and his explanation of it implies +that he presumed Sterne’s use of the term would be equally novel to the +readers of the periodical. His compliment to the translation indicates +further that he was unacquainted with the review in the _Hamburgischer +unpartheyischer Correspondent_. + +A little more than a year later, June 13, 1766, this same journal, under +the caption “London,” reviews the Becket and de Hondt four-volume +edition of the “Sermons of Mr. Yorick.” The critic thinks a warning +necessary: “One should not be deceived by the title: the author’s name +is not Yorick,” and then he adds the information of the real authorship. +This is a valid indication that, in the opinion of the reviewer, the +name Yorick would not be sufficiently linked in the reader’s mind with +the personality of Sterne and the fame of his first great book, to +preclude the possibility, or rather probability, of error. This state of +affairs is hardly reconcilable with any widespread knowledge of the +first volumes of Shandy. The criticism of the sermons which follows +implies, on the reviewer’s part, an acquaintance with Sterne, with +Tristram, a “whimsical and roguish novel which would in our land be but +little credit to a clergyman,” and with the hobby-horse idea. The spirit +of the review is, however, quite possibly prompted, and this added +information supplied, by the London correspondent, and retold only with +a savor of familiarity by this critic; for at the end of this +communication this London correspondent is credited with the suggestion +that quite probably the sermons were never actually preached. + +The first mention of Sterne in the _Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_ is +in the number for November 15, 1764. In the report from London is a +review[16] of the fifth edition of Yorick’s Sermons, published by +Dodsley in two volumes, 1764. To judge by the tenor of his brief +appreciation, the reviewer does not anticipate any knowledge of Sterne +whatsoever or of Shandy among the readers of the periodical. He states +that the sermons had aroused much interest in England because of their +authorship “by Lorenz Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, a book in which +a remarkable humor is exhibited.” He mentions also that the sermon on +the conscience had already been published in the novel, but is ignorant +of its former and first appearance. Three years later, July 20, +1767,[17] the same periodical devotes a long critical review to the +four-volume London edition of the sermons. The publisher’s name is not +given, but it is the issue of Becket and de Hondt. The restating of +elementary information concerning authorship is indicative of the tardy +progress made by Yorick in these years in gaining recognition in +Germany. The reviewer thinks it even necessary to add that Yorick is the +name of the clergyman who plays a waggish (possierliche) rôle in Shandy, +and that Sterne cherished the opinion that this designation on the +title-page would be better known than his own name. + +In the meantime Swiss piety and Swiss devotion to things English had +been instrumental in bringing out a translation of Sterne’s sermons,[18] +the first volume of which appeared in 1766. The Swiss translation was +occasioned by its author’s expectation of interest in the sermons as +sermons; this is in striking contrast to the motives which led to their +original publication in England. The brief preface of the translator +gives no information of Sterne, or of Shandy; the translator states his +reasons for the rendering, his own interest in the discourses, his +belief that such sermons would not be superfluous in Germany, and his +opinion that they were written for an increasing class of readers, “who, +though possessed of taste and culture and laying claim to probity, yet +for various reasons stand apart from moral instruction and religious +observance.” He also changed the original order of the sermons. The +first part of this Swiss translation is reviewed in the _Allgemeine +deutsche Bibliothek_ in the first number of 1768, and hence before the +Sentimental Journey had seen the light even in London. The review is +characterized by unstinted praise: Sterne is congratulated upon his +deviation from the conventional in homiletical discourse, is commended +as an excellent painter of moral character and situations, though he +abstains from the use of the common engines of eloquence. His narrative +powers are also noted with approval and his ability to retain the +attention of his hearers through clever choice of emphasized detail is +mentioned with appreciation. Yet in all this no reference is made to +Sterne’s position in English letters, a fact which could hardly have +failed of comment, if the reviewer had been aware of it, especially in +view of the relation of Sterne’s popularity to the very existence of +this published volume of sermons, or if it had been expected that the +fact of authorship would awaken interest in any considerable number of +readers. The tone of the review is further hardly reconcilable with a +knowledge of Sterne’s idiosyncrasies as displayed in Shandy. A brief +consideration of the principles of book-reviewing would establish the +fact indisputably that the mentioning of a former book, some hint of +familiarity with the author by open or covert allusion, is an integral +and inevitable part of the review of a later book. This review is the +only mention of Sterne in this magazine[19] before the publication of +the Sentimental Journey. A comparison of this recension, narrow in +outlook, bound, as it is, to the very book under consideration, with +those of the second and third volumes of the sermons in the same +magazine during the year 1770,[20] is an illuminating illustration of +the sweeping change brought in by the Journey. In the latter critique we +find appreciation of Yorick’s characteristics, enthusiastic acceptation +of his sentiment, fond and familiar allusions to both Shandy and the +Sentimental Journey. In the brief space of two years Sterne’s +sentimentalism had come into its own. + +The _Bremisches Magazin_,[21] which was employed largely in publishing +translations from English periodicals, and contained in each number +lists, generally much belated, of new English books, noted in the third +number for 1762, among the new books from April to December, 1760, Mr. +Yorick’s Sermons, published by Mr. Sterne, and then, as customary in +these catalogues, translated the title into “Herrn Yorick’s Predigten +ans Licht gestellt von Hn. Sterne.” Four years later, in the first +volume of the _Neues Bremisches Magazin_,[22] announcement is made of +the third and fourth volumes of Yorick’s Sermons. During this period +sufficient intelligence concerning Sterne is current to warrant the +additional statement that “This Mr. Sterne, the author of the strange +book, Tristram Shandy, is the author himself.” The notice closes with +the naïve but astounding information, “He took the name Yorick because +he is a preacher in York; furthermore, these sermons are much praised.” +No further proof is needed that this reviewer was guiltless of any +knowledge of Shandy beyond the title. The ninth volume of Shandy is +announced in the same number among the new English books. + +In 1767, the year before the publication of the Sentimental Journey, we +find three notices of Tristram Shandy. In the _Deutsche Bibliothek der +schönen Wissenschaften_[23] is a very brief but, in the main, +commendatory review of the Zückert translation, coupled with the +statement that the last parts are not by Sterne, but with the claim that +the humor of the original is fairly well maintained. The review is +signed “Dtsh.” Another Halle periodical, the _Hallische Neue Gelehrte +Zeitungen_, in the issue for August 10, 1767[24] reviews the same +volumes with a much more decided acknowledgment of merit. It is claimed +that the difference is not noticeable, and that the ninth part is almost +more droll than all the others, an opinion which is noteworthy testimony +to its originator’s utter lack of comprehension of the whole work and of +the inanity of this spurious last volume. The statement by both of these +papers that the last three volumes,[25] parts VII, VIII and IX, of the +Zückert translation, rest on spurious English originals, is, of course, +false as far as VII and VIII are concerned, and is true only of IX. + +In the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, the last number for +1766[26] contains the first mention of Sterne’s name in this +representative literary periodical. It is an article entitled “Ueber die +Laune,”[27] which is concerned with the phenomena of hypochrondia and +melancholia, considered as illnesses, and their possible cure. The +author claims to have found a remedy in the books which do not depress +the spirits with exhibition of human woes, but which make merry over +life’s follies. In this he claims merely to be following the advice of +St. Evremond to the Count of Olonne. His method he further explains by +tracing humor to its beginnings in Aristophanes and by following its +development through Latin, new Latin (Erasmus, Thomas Morus, etc.), +French and English writers. Among the latter Sterne is named. +Unfortunately for the present purpose, the author is led by caution and +fear of giving the offense of omission to refrain from naming the German +writers who might be classed with the cited representatives of humor. +In closing, he recommends heartily to those teased with melancholy a +“portion of leaves of Lucian, some half-ounces of ‘Don Quixote’ or some +drachms of ‘Tom Jones’ or ‘Tristram Shandy.’” Under the heading, “New +English Books,” in the third number of the same periodical for 1767, +is a brief but significant notice of the ninth volume of Tristram +Shandy.[28] “The ninth part of the well-known ‘Life of Tristram Shandy’ +has been published; we would not mention it, if we did not desire on +this occasion to note at least once in our magazine a book which is +incontestably the strangest production of wit and humor which has ever +been brought forth. . . . The author of this original book is a +clergyman by the name of Sterne, who, under his Harlequin’s name, +Yorick, has given to the world the most excellent sermons.” The review +contains also a brief word of comparison with Rabelais and a quotation +from an English critic expressing regret at Yorick’s embroidering “the +choicest flowers of genius on a paultry groundwork of buffoonry.”[29] +This late mention of Sterne’s great novel, and the manner in which it is +made are not without their suggestions as to the attitude even of the +German literary world toward Yorick. The notice is written in a tone of +forced condescension. The writer is evidently compelled, as +representative of British literary interests, to bear witness to the +Shandy craze, but the attitude of the review is plainly indicative of +its author’s disbelief in any occasion for especial concern about Yorick +in Germany. Sterne himself is mentioned as a fitful whim of British +taste, and a German devotion to him is beyond the flight of fancy.[30] + +Individual authors, aware of international literary conditions, the +inner circle of German culture, became acquainted with Tristram Shandy +during this period before the publication of the Sentimental Journey and +learned to esteem the eccentric parson. Bode’s possible acquaintance +with the English original previous to 1764 has been already noted. +Lessing’s admiration for Sterne naturally is associated with his two +statements of remarkable devotion to Yorick, both of which, however, +date from a period when he had already become acquainted with the +Journey. At precisely what time Lessing first read Tristram Shandy it is +impossible to determine with accuracy. Moses Mendelssohn writes to him +in the summer of 1763:[31] “Tristram Shandy is a work of masterly +originality. At present, to be sure, I have read only the first two +volumes. In the beginning the book vexed me exceedingly. I rambled on +from digression to digression without grasping the real humor of the +author. I regarded him as a man like our Liscow, whom, as you know, +I don’t particularly fancy; and yet the book pleases Lessing!” This is +sufficient proof that Mendelssohn first read Shandy early in 1763, but, +though not improbable, it is yet rather hazardous to conclude that +Lessing also had read the book shortly before, and had just recommended +it to his friend. The literary friendship existing between them, and the +general nature of their literary relations and communications, would +rather favor such a hypothesis. The passage is, however, a significant +confession of partial failure on the part of the clever and erudite +Mendelssohn to appreciate Sterne’s humor. It has been generally accepted +that Lessing’s dramatic fragment, “Die Witzlinge,” included two +characters modeled confessedly after Yorick’s familiar personages, Trim +and Eugenius. Boxberger and others have stamped such a theory with their +authority.[32] If this were true, “Die Witzlinge” would undoubtedly be +the first example of Sterne’s influence working directly upon the +literary activity of a German author. The fragment has, however, nothing +to do with Tristram Shandy, and a curious error has here crept in +through the remarkable juxtaposition of names later associated with +Sterne. The plan is really derived directly from Shadwell’s “Bury Fair” +with its “Mr. Trim” fancifully styled “Eugenius.” Those who tried to +establish the connection could hardly have been familiar with Tristram +Shandy, for Lessing’s Trim as outlined in the sketch has nothing in +common with the Corporal. + +Erich Schmidt, building on a suggestion of Lichtenstein, found a “Dosis +Yorikscher Empfindsamkeit”[33] in Tellheim, and connected the episode of +the Chevalier de St. Louis with the passage in “Minna von Barnhelm” +(II, 2) in which Minna contends with the innkeeper that the king cannot +know all deserving men nor reward them. Such an identity of sentiment +must be a pure coincidence for “Minna von Barnhelm” was published at +Easter, 1767, nearly a year before the Sentimental Journey appeared. + +A connection between Corporal Trim and Just has been suggested,[34] but +no one has by investigation established such a kinship. Both servants +are patterns of old-fashioned fidelity, types of unquestioning service +on the part of the inferior, a relation which existed between Orlando +and Adam in “As You Like It,” and which the former describes: + + “O good old man, how well in thee appears + The constant service of the antique world, + When service sweat for duty, not for meed; + Thou art not for the fashion of these times.” + +Tellheim recognizes the value of Just’s service, and honors his +subordinate for his unusual faithfulness; yet there exists here no such +cordial comradeship as marked the relation between Sterne’s originals. +But one may discern the occasion of this in the character of Tellheim, +who has no resemblance to Uncle Toby, rather than in any dissimilarity +between the characters of the servants. The use of the relation between +master and man as a subject for literary treatment was probably first +brought into fashion by Don Quixote, and it is well-nigh certain that +Sterne took his cue from Cervantes. + +According to Erich Schmidt, the episode of Just’s dog, as the servant +relates it in the 8th scene of the 1st act, could have adorned the +Sentimental Journey, but the similarity of motif here in the treatment +of animal fidelity is pure coincidence. Certainly the method of using +the episode is not reminiscent of any similar scene in Sterne. Just’s +dog is not introduced for its own sake, nor like the ass at Nampont to +afford opportunity for exciting humanitarian impulses, and for throwing +human character into relief by confronting it with sentimental +possibilities, but for the sake of a forceful, telling and immediate +comparison. Lessing was too original a mind, and at the time when +“Minna” was written, too complete and mature an artist to follow another +slavishly or obviously, except avowedly under certain conditions and +with particular purpose. He himself is said to have remarked, “That must +be a pitiful author who does not borrow something once in a while,”[35] +and it does not seem improbable that the figure of Trim was hovering in +his memory while he was creating his Just. Especially does this seem +plausible when we remember that Lessing wrote his drama during the years +when Shandy was appearing, when he must have been occupied with it, and +at the first flush of his admiration. + +This supposition, however undemonstrable, is given some support by our +knowledge of a minor work of Lessing, which has been lost. On December +28, 1769, Lessing writes to Ebert from Hamburg: “Alberti is well; and +what pleases me about him, as much as his health, is that the news of +his reconciliation with Goeze was a false report. So Yorick will +probably preach and send his sermon soon.”[36] And Ebert replies in a +letter dated at Braunschweig, January 7, 1770, expressing a desire that +Lessing should fulfil his promise, and cause Yorick to preach not once +but many times.[37] The circumstance herein involved was first explained +by Friedrich Nicolai in an article in the _Berlinische Monatsschrift_, +1791.[38] As a trick upon his friend Alberti, who was then in +controversy with Goeze, Lessing wrote a sermon in Yorick’s manner; the +title and part of the introduction to it were privately printed by Bode +and passed about among the circle of friends, as if the whole were in +press. We are entirely dependent on Nicolai’s memory for our information +relative to this sole endeavor on Lessing’s part to adopt completely the +manner of Sterne. Nicolai asserts that this effort was a complete +success in the realization of Yorick’s simplicity, his good-natured but +acute philosophy, his kindly sympathy and tolerance, even his merry +whimsicality. + +This introduction, which Nicolai claims to have recalled essentially as +Lessing wrote it, relates the occasion of Yorick’s writing the sermon. +Uncle Toby and Trim meet a in a ragged French uniform; Capt. +Shandy gives the unfortunate man several shillings, and Trim draws out a +penny and in giving it says, “French Dog!” The narrative continues: + +“The Captain[39] was silent for some seconds and then said, turning to +Trim, ‘It is a man, Trim, and not a dog!’ The French veteran had hobbled +after them: at the Captain’s words Trim gave him another penny, saying +again ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, the man is a soldier.’ Trim stared him +in the face, gave him a penny again and said, ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, +he is a brave soldier; you see he has fought for his fatherland and has +been sorely wounded.’ Trim pressed his hand, while he gave him another +penny, and said ‘French Dog!’ ‘And, Trim, this soldier is a good but +unfortunate husband, and has a wife and four little children.’ Trim, +with a tear in his eye, gave all he had left and said, rather softly, +‘French Dog!’” + +This scene recalls vividly the encounter between Just and the landlord +in the first act of “Minna,” the passage in which Just continues to +assert that the landlord is a “Grobian.” There are the same tactics, the +same persistence, the same contrasts. The passage quoted was, of course, +written after “Minna,” but from it we gather evidence that Corporal Trim +and his own Just were similar creations, that to him Corporal Trim, when +he had occasion to picture him, must needs hark back to the figure of +Just, a character which may well originally have been suggested by Capt. +Shandy’s faithful servant. + +Among German literati, Herder is another representative of acquaintance +with Sterne and appreciation of his masterpiece. Haym[40] implies that +Sterne and Swift are mentioned more often than any other foreign authors +in Herder’s writings of the Riga period (November, 1764, to May, 1769). +This would, of course, include the first fervor of enthusiasm concerning +the Sentimental Journey, and would be a statement decidedly doubtful, +if applied exclusively to the previous years. In a note-book, possibly +reaching back before his arrival in Riga to his student days in +Königsberg, Herder made quotations from Shandy and Don Quixote, possibly +preparatory notes for his study of the ridiculous in the Fourth +Wäldchen.[41] In May, 1766, Herder went to Mitau to visit Hamann, and he +designates the account of the events since leaving there as “ein Capitel +meines Shandyschen Romans”[42] and sends it as such to “my uncle, Tobias +Shandy.” Later a letter, written 27-16, August, 1766, is begun with the +heading, “Herder to Hamann and no more Yorick to Tobias Shandy,” in +which he says: “I am now in a condition where I can play the part of +Yorick as little as Panza that of Governor.”[43] The same letter +contains another reference and the following familiar allusion to +Sterne: “Grüsen Sie Trim, wenn ich gegen keinen den beleidigenden +Karakter Yoriks oder leider! das Schicksal wider Willen zu beleidigen, +habe, so ist’s doch gegen ihn und Hartknoch.” These last quotations are +significant as giving proof that Shandy had so far forced its claims +upon a little set of book-lovers in the remote east, Herder, Hamann and +a few others, that they gave one another in play names from the English +novel. A letter from Hamann to Herder, dated Königsberg, June 10, 1767, +indicates that the former shared also the devotion to Sterne.[44] + +In the first collection of “Fragmente über die neuere deutsche +Litteratur,” 1767, the sixth section treats of the “Idiotismen” of a +language. British “Laune” is cited as such an untranslatable “Idiotism” +and the lack of German humorists is noted, and Swift is noted +particularly as an English example. In the second and revised edition +Herder adds material containing allusion to Hudibras and Tristram.[45] +The first and second “Kritische Wäldchen” contain several references to +Sterne and Shandy.[46] Herder, curiously enough, did not read the +Sentimental Journey until the autumn of 1768, as is disclosed in a +letter to Hamann written in November,[47] which also shows his +appreciation of Sterne. “An Sterne’s Laune,” he says, “kann ich mich +nicht satt lesen. Eben den Augenblick, da ich an ihn denke, bekomme ich +seine Sentimental Journey zum Durchlesen, und wenn nicht meine Englische +Sprachwissenschaft scheitert, wie angenehm werde ich mit ihm reisen. +Ich bin an seine Sentiments zum Theil schon so gewöhnt, sie bis in das +weiche innere Mark seiner Menschheit in ihren zarten Fäden zu verfolgen: +dass ich glaube seinen Tristram etwas mehr zu verstehn als the common +people. Nur um so mehr ärgern mich auch seine verfluchten Säuereien und +Zweideutigkeiten, die das Buch wenigerer Empfehlung fähig machen als es +verdient.” We learn from the same letter that Herder possessed the +sermons of Yorick in the Zürich translation. Herder’s own homiletical +style during this period, as evinced by the sermons preserved to us, +betrays no trace of Sterne’s influence. + +Riedel, in his “Theorie der schönen Künste und Wissenschaften,”[48] +shows appreciation of Shandy complete and discriminating, previous to +the publication of the Sentimental Journey. This book is a sort of +compendium, a series of rather disconnected chapters, woven together out +of quotations from aesthetic critics, examples and comment. In the +chapter on Similarity and Contrast he contends that a satirist only may +transgress the rule he has just enunciated: “When a perfect similarity +fails of its effect, a too far-fetched, a too ingenious one, is even +less effective,” and in this connection he quotes from Tristram Shandy a +passage describing the accident to Dr. Slop and Obadiah.[49] Riedel +translates the passage himself. The chapter “Ueber die Laune”[50] +contains two more references to Shandy. In a volume dated 1768 and +entitled “Ueber das Publikum: Briefe an einige Glieder desselben,” +written evidently without knowledge of the Journey, Riedel indicates the +position which Shandy had in these years won for itself among a select +class. Riedel calls it a contribution to the “Register” of the human +heart and states that he knows people who claim to have learned more +psychology from this novel than from many thick volumes in which the +authors had first killed sentiment in order then to dissect it at +leisure.[51] + +Early in 1763, one finds an appreciative knowledge of Shandy as a +possession of a group of Swiss literati, but probably confined to a +coterie of intellectual aristocrats and novelty-seekers. Julie von +Bondeli[52] writes to Usteri from Koenitz on March 10, 1763, that +Kirchberger[53] will be able to get him the opportunity to read Tristram +Shandy as a whole, that she herself has read two volumes with surprise, +emotion and almost constant bursts of laughter; she goes on to say: +“Il voudrait la peine d’apprendre l’anglais ne fut-ce que pour lire cet +impayable livre, dont la vérité et le génie se fait sentir à chaque +ligne au travers de la plus originelle plaisanterie.” Zimmermann was a +resident of Brugg, 1754-1768, and was an intimate friend of Fräulein von +Bondeli. It may be that this later enthusiastic admirer of Sterne became +acquainted with Shandy at this time through Fräulein von Bondeli, but +their correspondence, covering the years 1761-1775, does not +disclose it. + +Dr. Carl Behmer, who has devoted an entire monograph to the study of +Wieland’s connection with Sterne, is of the opinion, and his proofs seem +conclusive, that Wieland did not know Shandy before the autumn of +1767,[54] that is, only a few months before the publication of the +Journey. But his enthusiasm was immediate. The first evidence of +acquaintance with Sterne, a letter to Zimmermann (November 13, +1767),[55] is full of extravagant terms of admiration and devotion. +One is naturally reminded of his similar extravagant expressions with +reference to the undying worth of Richardson’s novels. Sterne’s life +philosophy fitted in with Wieland’s second literary period, the +frivolous, sensuous, epicurean, even as the moral meanderings of +Richardson agreed with his former serious, religious attitude. Probably +soon after or while reading Shandy, Wieland conceived the idea of +translating it. The letter which contains this very first mention of +Sterne also records Wieland’s regret that the Germans can read this +incomparable original only in so wretched a translation, which implies a +contemporary acquaintance with Dr. Z��ckert’s rendering. This regret may +well have been the foundation of his own purpose of translating the +book; and knowledge of this seems to have been pretty general among +German men of letters at the time. Though the account of this purpose +would bring us into a time when the Sentimental Journey was in every +hand, it may be as well to complete what we have to say of it here. + +His reason for abandoning the idea, and the amount of work done, the +length of time he spent upon the project, cannot be determined from his +correspondence and must, as Behmer implies, be left in doubt. But +several facts, which Behmer does not note, remarks of his own and of his +contemporaries, point to more than an undefined general purpose on his +part; it is not improbable that considerable work was done. Wieland says +incidentally in his _Teutscher Merkur_,[56] in a review of the new +edition of Zückert’s translation: “Vor drei Jahren, da er (Lange) mich +bat, ihm die Uebersetzung des Tristram mit der ich damals umgieng, in +Verlag zu geben.” Herder asks Nicolai in a letter dated Paris, November +30, 1769, “What is Wieland doing, is he far along with his Shandy?” And +in August, 1769, in a letter to Hartknoch, he mentions Wieland’s +Tristram among German books which he longs to read.[57] + +The _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_[58] for December 18, +1769, in mentioning this new edition of Zückert’s translation, states +that Wieland has now given up his intention, but adds: “Perhaps he will, +however, write essays which may fill the place of a philosophical +commentary upon the whole book.” That Wieland had any such secondary +purpose is not elsewhere stated, but it does not seem as if the journal +would have published such a rumor without some foundation in fact. +It may be possibly a resurrection of his former idea of a defense of +Tristram as a part of the “Litteraturbriefe” scheme which Riedel had +proposed.[59] This general project having failed, Wieland may have +cherished the purpose of defending Tristram independently of the plan. +Or this may be a reviewer’s vague memory of a former rumor of plan. + +It is worth noting incidentally that Gellert does not seem to have known +Sterne at all. His letters, for example, to Demoiselle Lucius, which +begin October 22, 1760, and continue to December 4, 1769, contain +frequent references to other English celebrities, but none to Sterne. + +The first notice of Sterne’s death is probably that in the +_Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ of Hamburg in the issue of April 6, 1768, +not three weeks after the event itself. The brief announcement is a +comparison with Cervantes. The _Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_ +chronicles the death of Yorick, August 29, 1768.[60] + +Though published in England from 1759-67, Tristram Shandy seems not to +have been reprinted in Germany till the 1772 edition of Richter in +Altenburg, a year later indeed than Richter’s reprint of the Sentimental +Journey. The colorless and inaccurate Zückert translation, as has +already been suggested, achieved no real popular success and won no +learned recognition. The reviews were largely silent or indifferent to +it, and, apart from the comparatively few notices already cited, it was +not mentioned by any important literary periodical until after its +republication by Lange, when the Sentimental Journey had set all tongues +awag with reference to the late lamented Yorick. None of the journals +indicate any appreciation of Sterne’s especial claim to recognition, +nor see in the fatherland any peculiar receptiveness to his appeal. In +short, the foregoing accumulation of particulars resolves itself into +the general statement, easily derived from the facts stated: Sterne’s +position in the German world of letters is due primarily to the +Sentimental Journey. Without its added impulse Shandy would have hardly +stirred the surface of German life and thought. The enthusiasm even of a +few scholars whose learning and appreciation of literature is +international, the occasional message of uncertain understanding, of +doubtful approbation, or of rumored popularity in another land, are not +sufficient to secure a general interest and attentiveness, much less a +literary following. The striking contrast between the essential +characteristics of the two books is a sufficient and wholly reasonable +occasion for Germany’s temporary indifference to the one and her +immediate welcome for the other. Shandy is whimsicality touched with +sentiment. The Sentimental Journey is the record of a sentimental +experience, guided by the caprice of a whimsical will. Whimsicality is a +flower that defies transplanting; when once rooted in other soil it +shoots up into obscurity, masquerading as profundity, or pure silliness +without reason or a smile. The whimsies of one language become amazing +contortions in another. The humor of Shandy, though deep-dyed in +Sterne’s own eccentricity, is still essentially British and demands for +its appreciation a more extensive knowledge of British life in its +narrowest, most individual phases, a more intensive sympathy with +British attitudes of mind than the German of the eighteenth century, +save in rare instances, possessed. Bode asserts in the preface to his +translation of the Sentimental Journey that Shandy had been read by a +good many Germans, but follows this remark with the query, “How many +have understood it?” “One finds people,” he says, “who despise it as the +most nonsensical twaddle, and cannot comprehend how others, whom they +must credit with a good deal of understanding, wit, and learning, think +quite otherwise of it,” and he closes by noting the necessity that one +be acquainted with the follies of the world, and especially of the +British world, to appreciate the novel. He refers unquestionably to his +own circle of literati in Hamburg, who knew Tristram and cared for it, +and to others of his acquaintance less favored with a knowledge of +things English. The Sentimental Journey presented no inscrutable mystery +of purposeful eccentricity and perplexing personality, but was written +large in great human characters which he who ran might read. And Germany +was ready to give it a welcome.[61] + + + [Footnote 1: A reviewer in the _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, as early + as 1774, asserts that Sterne had inspired more droll and + sentimental imitations in Germany than even in England. (Apr. 5, + 1774.)] + + [Footnote 2: See Bibliography for list of books giving more or + less extended accounts of Sterne’s influence.] + + [Footnote 3: Sterne did, to be sure, assert in a letter (Letters, + I, p. 34) that he wrote “not to be fed but to be famous.” Yet this + was after this desire had been fulfilled, and, as the expression + agrees with the tone and purpose of the letter in which it is + found, it does not seem necessary to place too much weight upon + it. It is very probable in view of evidence collected later that + Sterne _began_ at least to write Tristram as a pastime in domestic + misfortune. The thirst for fame may have developed in the progress + of the composition.] + + [Footnote 4: Fitzgerald says “end of December,” Vol. I, p. 116, + and the volumes were reviewed in the December number of the + _Monthly Review_, 1759 (Vol. XXI, pp. 561-571), though without any + mention of the author’s name. This review mentions no other + publisher than Cooper.] + + [Footnote 5: Quoted by Fitzgerald, Vol. I, p. 126.] + + [Footnote 6: The full title of this paper was _Staats- und + gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyischen + Correspondenten_.] + + [Footnote 7: Meusel: Lexicon der vom Jahr 1750 bis 1800 + verstorbenen teutschen Schriftsteller. Bd. XV. (Leipzig bey + Fleischer) 1816, pp, 472-474.] + + [Footnote 8: Berlin, bei August Mylius. 1764.] + + [Footnote 9: Behmer (L. Sterne und C. M. Wieland, p. 15) seems to + be unaware of the translations of the following parts, and of the + authorship.] + + [Footnote 10: This attempt to supply a ninth volume of Tristram + Shandy seems to have been overlooked. A spurious third volume is + mentioned in the Natl. Dict. of Biography and is attributed to + John Carr. This ninth volume is however noticed in the _London + Magazine_, 1766, p. 691, with accompanying statement that it is + “not by the author of the eight volumes.” The genuine ninth volume + is mentioned and quoted in this magazine in later issues, 1767, + p. 78, 206.] + + [Footnote 11: This edition is reviewed also in _Almanach der + deutschen Musen_, 1774, p. 97.] + + [Footnote 12: “Kein Deutscher, welcher das Uebersetzen aus fremden + Sprachen als ein Handwerk ansieht.”] + + [Footnote 13: I, p. 111.] + + [Footnote 14: “Lexicon der Hamburgischen Schriftsteller,” Hamburg, + 1851-1883.] + + [Footnote 15: Tristram Shandy, I, p. 107, and Zückert’s + translation, I, p. 141.] + + [Footnote 16: In this review and in the announcement of Sterne’s + death, this periodical refers to him as the Dean of York, + a distinction which Sterne never enjoyed.] + + [Footnote 17: 1767, p. 691. The reference is given in the Register + to 1753-1782 erroneously as p. 791.] + + [Footnote 18: “Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick.” Zürich, + bey Fuesslin & Comp, 1766-69. 3 vols.] + + [Footnote 19: The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ was founded in + 1765.] + + [Footnote 20: XII, 1, pp. 210-211 and 2, p. 202.] + + [Footnote 21: For full title see Bibliography.] + + [Footnote 22: Vol. I, p. 460.] + + [Footnote 23: Edited by Klotz and founded in 1767, published at + Halle by J. J. Gebauer. Vol. I, Part 2, p. 183.] + + [Footnote 24: Vol. II, p. 500.] + + [Footnote 25: The former says merely “the last parts”, the latter + designates “the last three.”] + + [Footnote 26: III, 1, pp. 1 ff.] + + [Footnote 27: This article is not to be confused with Garve’s + well-known article published in the same magazine, LXI, pp. 51-77 + (1798).] + + [Footnote 28: IV, St. 2, pp. 376-7.] + + [Footnote 29: This is from the February number, 1767, of the + _Monthly Review_. (Vol. XXXVI, p. 102.)] + + [Footnote 30: The seventh and eighth volumes of Shandy, English + edition, are reviewed in the first number of a short-lived + Frankfurt periodical, _Neue Auszüge aus den besten ausländischen + Wochen und Monatsschriften_, 1765. _Unterhaltungen_, a magazine + published at Hamburg and dealing largely with English interests, + notes the London publication of the spurious ninth volume of + Shandy (Vol. II, p. 152, August, 1766). _Die Brittische + Bibliothek_, another magazine consisting principally of English + reprints and literary news, makes no mention of Sterne up to 1767. + Then in a catalogue of English books sold by Casper Fritsch in + Leipzig, Shandy is given, but without the name of the author. + There is an account of Sterne’s sermons in the _Neue Hamburgische + Zeitung_, April, 1768.] + + [Footnote 31: Mendelssohn’s Schriften, edited by Prof. Dr. G. B. + Mendelssohn. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1844. Vol. V, p. 171.] + + [Footnote 32: Kürschner edition of Lessing’s works, III, 2, pp. + 156-157. See also “Lessing und die Engländer” by Josef Caro in + _Euphorion_, VI, pp. 489 ff. Erich Schmidt made the statement in + his life of Lessing in the edition of 1884, but corrected it + later, in the edition of 1899, probably depending on parallel + passages drawn from Paul Albrecht’s “Lessing’s Plagiate” (Hamburg + and Leipzig, 1888-1891), an extraordinary work which by its + frequent absurdity and its viciousness of attack forfeits credence + in its occasional genuine discoveries.] + + [Footnote 33: Lessing. “Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner + Schriften.” Berlin, 1884, I, pp. 174, 465. This is omitted in the + latest edition.] + + [Footnote 34: Perry (Thomas Sargeant) “From Opitz to Lessing.” + Boston, 1885, p. 162.] + + [Footnote 35: Quoted by Lichtenberg in “Göttingischer + Taschenkalender,” 1796, p. 191. “Vermischte Schriften,” VI, + p. 487.] + + [Footnote 36: Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840. Vol. XII, p. 240.] + + [Footnote 37: XIII, pp. 209-10.] + + [Footnote 38: XVII, pp. 30-45. The article is reprinted in the + Hempel edition of Lessing, XVII, pp. 263-71.] + + [Footnote 39: Nicolai uses the German word for colonel, a title + which Uncle Toby never bore.] + + [Footnote 40: R. Haym. “Herder nach seinem Leben und seinen + Werken.” I, p. 413.] + + [Footnote 41: Haym, I, p. 261.] + + [Footnote 42: Herder’s “Briefe an Joh. Georg Hamann,” ed. by Otto + Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, p. 25, or “Lebensbild” II, p. 140.] + + [Footnote 43: “Briefe an Hamann,” p. 27.] + + [Footnote 44: Lebensbild II (I, 2), p. 256; also in Hamann’s + Schriften, ed. by Roth. Berlin, 1822, III, p. 372. Hamann asks + Herder to remind his publisher, when the latter sends the promised + third part of the “Fragmente,” to inclose without fail the + engraving of Sterne, because the latter is absolutely essential to + his furnishings.] + + [Footnote 45: See Suphan I, p. 163; II, p. 46.] + + [Footnote 46: Suphan III, pp. 170, 223, 233, 277, 307.] + + [Footnote 47: Briefe an Hamann, p. 49.] + + [Footnote 48: . . . . in Auszug aus den Werken verschiedener + Schriftsteller von Friedrich Just Riedel, Jena, 1767. The chapter + cited is pp. 137 ff.] + + [Footnote 49: I, p. 106.] + + [Footnote 50: Pp. 91-96; see also p. 331.] + + [Footnote 51: Pp. 118-120, or Sämmtliche Schriften, Wien, 1787, + 4ter Th., 4ter Bd., p. 133. A review with quotation of this + criticism of Shandy is found in the _Deutsche Bibliothek der + schönen Wissenschaften_, II, p. 659, but after the publication of + the Mittelstedt translation of the Sentimental Journey had been + reviewed in the same periodical.] + + [Footnote 52: See “Julie von Bondeli und ihr Freundeskreis,” von + Eduard Bodemann. Hannover, 1874.] + + [Footnote 53: Nicholas Ant. Kirchberger, the Swiss statesman and + philosopher, the friend of Rousseau.] + + [Footnote 54: Behmer, “Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland,” pp. + 15-17.] + + [Footnote 55: “Ausgewählte Briefe,” Bd. II, p. 285 f. Zürich, + 1815.] + + [Footnote 56: V, pp. 345-6. 1774.] + + [Footnote 57: See Lebensbild, V, p. 107 and p. 40.] + + [Footnote 58: 1769, p. 840.] + + [Footnote 59: See Behmer, p. 24, and the letter to Riedel, October + 26, 1768, Ludwig Wielands Briefsammlung. I, p. 232.] + + [Footnote 60: P. 856.] + + [Footnote 61: These two aspects of the Sterne cult in Germany will + be more fully treated later. The historians of literature and + other investigators who have treated Sterne’s influence in Germany + have not distinguished very carefully the difference between + Sterne’s two works, and the resulting difference between the kind + and amount of their respective influences. Appell, however, + interprets the condition correctly and assigns the cause with + accuracy and pointedness. (“Werther und seine Zeit.” p. 246). The + German critics repeat persistently the thought that the imitators + of Sterne remained as far away from the originals as the + Shakespeare followers from the great Elizabethan. See Gervinus, + Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, I, 184; Hettner, “Geschichte + der deutschen Literatur im 18. Jahrhundert,” III, 1, p. 362; + Hofer, “Deutsche Litteraturgeschichte,” p. 150.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY + + +On February 27, 1768, the Sentimental Journey was published in +London,[1] less than three weeks before the author’s death, and the book +was at once transplanted to German soil, beginning there immediately its +career of commanding influence and wide-spread popularity. + +Several causes operated together in favoring its pronounced and +immediate success. A knowledge of Sterne existed among the more +intelligent lovers of English literature in Germany, the leaders of +thought, whose voice compelled attention for the understandable, but was +powerless to create appreciation for the unintelligible among the lower +ranks of readers. This knowledge and appreciation of Yorick were +immediately available for the furtherance of Sterne’s fame as soon as a +work of popular appeal was published. The then prevailing interest in +travels is, further, not to be overlooked as a forceful factor in +securing immediate recognition for the Sentimental Journey.[2] At no +time in the world’s history has the popular interest in books of travel, +containing geographical and topographical description, and information +concerning peoples and customs, been greater than during this period. +The presses teemed with stories of wanderers in known and unknown lands. +The preface to the _Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_ of Leipzig for +the year 1759 heralds as a matter of importance a gain in geographical +description. The _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, 1773, makes +in its tables of contents, a separate division of travels. In 1759, +also, the “Allgemeine Historie der Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande” +(Leipzig, 1747-1774), reached its seventeenth volume. These are brief +indications among numerous similar instances of the then predominant +interest in the wanderer’s experience. Sterne’s second work of fiction, +though differing in its nature so materially from other books of travel, +may well, even if only from the allurement of its title, have shared the +general enthusiasm for the traveler’s narrative. Most important, +however, is the direct appeal of the book itself, irresistible to the +German mind and heart. Germany had been for a decade hesitating on the +verge of tears, and grasped with eagerness a book which seemed to give +her British sanction for indulgence in her lachrymose desire. + +The portion of Shandy which is virtually a part of the Sentimental +Journey,[3] which Sterne, possibly to satisfy the demands of the +publisher, thrust in to fill out volumes contracted for, was not long +enough, nor distinctive enough in its use of sentiment, was too +effectually concealed in its volume of Shandean quibbles, to win readers +for the whole of Shandy, or to direct wavering attention through the +mazes of Shandyism up to the point where the sentimental Yorick really +takes up the pen and introduces the reader to the sad fate of Maria of +Moulines. One can imagine eager Germany aroused to sentimental frenzy +over the Maria incident in the Sentimental Journey, turning with +throbbing contrition to the forgotten, neglected, or unknown passage in +Tristram Shandy.[4] + +It is difficult to trace sources for Sterne in English letters, that is, +for the strange combination of whimsicality, genuine sentiment and +knavish smiles, which is the real Sterne. He is individual, exotic, not +demonstrable from preceding literary conditions, and his meteoric, or +rather rocket-like career in Britain is in its decline a proof of the +insensibility of the English people to a large portion of his gospel. +The creature of fancy which, by a process of elimination, the Germans +made out of Yorick is more easily explicable from existing and preceding +literary and emotional conditions in Germany.[5] Brockes had prepared +the way for a sentimental view of nature, Klopstock’s poetry had +fostered the display of emotion, the analysis of human feeling. Gellert +had spread his own sort of religious and ethical sentimentalism among +the multitudes of his devotees. Stirred by, and contemporaneous with +Gallic feeling, Germany was turning with longing toward the natural man, +that is, man unhampered by convention and free to follow the dictates of +the primal emotions. The exercise of human sympathy was a goal of this +movement. In this vague, uncertain awakening, this dangerous freeing of +human feelings, Yorick’s practical illustration of the sentimental life +could not but prove an incentive, an organizer, a relief for pent-up +emotion.[6] + +Johann Joachim Christoph Bode has already been mentioned in relation to +the early review of Zückert’s translation of Shandy. His connection with +the rapid growth of the Yorick cult after the publication of the +Sentimental Journey demands a more extended account of this German +apostle of Yorick. In the sixth volume of Bode’s translation of +Montaigne[7] was printed first the life of the translator by C. A. +Böttiger. This was published the following year by the same house in a +separate volume entitled “J. J. C. Bodes literarisches Leben, nebst +dessen Bildnis von Lips.” All other sources of information regarding +Bode, such as the accounts in Jördens and in Schlichtegroll’s +“Nekrolog,”[8] are derivations or abstracts from this biography. Bode +was born in Braunschweig in 1730; reared in lowly circumstances and +suffering various vicissitudes of fortune, he came to Hamburg in 1756-7. +Gifted with a talent for languages, which he had cultivated assiduously, +he was regarded at the time of his arrival, even in Hamburg, as one +especially conversant with the English language and literature. His +nature must have borne something akin to Yorick, for his biographer +describes his position in Hamburg society as not dissimilar to that once +occupied for a brief space in the London world by the clever fêted +Sterne. Yet the enthusiasm of the friend as biographer doubtless colors +the case, forcing a parallel with Yorick by sheer necessity. Before 1768 +Bode had published several translations from the English with rather +dubious success, and the adaptability of the Sentimental Journey to +German uses must have occurred to him, or have been suggested to him +directly upon its very importation into Germany. He undoubtedly set +himself to the task of translation as soon as the book reached +his hands, for, in the issue of the _Hamburgische +Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ for April 20, is found Bode’s translation +of a section from the Sentimental Journey. “Die Bettler” he names the +extract; it is really the fifth of the sections which Sterne labels +“Montriul.”[9] In the numbers of the same paper for June 11 and 15, Bode +translates in two parts the story of the “Monk;” thus, in but little +over three months after its English publication, the story of the poor +Franciscan Lorenzo and his fateful snuff-box was transferred to Germany +and began its heart-touching career. These excerpts were included by +Bode later in the year when he published his translation of the whole +Sentimental Journey. The first extract was evidently received with favor +and interest, for, in the foreword to the translation of the “Monk,” in +the issue of June 11, Bode assigns this as his reason for making his +readers better acquainted with this worthy book. He further says that +the reader of taste and insight will not fail to distinguish the +difference when so fine a connoisseur of the human heart as Sterne +depicts sentiments, and when a shallow wit prattles of his emotions. +Bode’s last words are a covert assumption of his rôle as prophet and +priest of Yorick in Germany: “The reader may himself judge from the +following passage, whether we have spoken of our Briton in terms of too +high praise.” + +In the July number of the _Unterhaltungen_, another Hamburg periodical, +is printed another translation from the Sentimental Journey entitled: +“Eine Begebenheit aus Yoricks Reise fürs Herz übersetzt.” The episode is +that of the _fille de chambre_[10] who is seeking Crébillon’s “Les +Egarements du Coeur et de l’Esprit.” The translator omits the first part +of the section and introduces us to the story with a few unacknowledged +words of his own. In the September number of the same periodical the +rest of the _fille de chambre_ story[11] is narrated. Here also the +translator alters the beginning of the account to make it less abrupt in +the rendering. The author of this translation has not been determined. +Bode does not translate the word “Sentimental” in his published +extracts, giving merely the English title; hence Lessing’s advice[12] +concerning the rendering of the word dates probably from the latter part +of the summer. The translation in the September number of the +_Unterhaltungen_ also does not contain a rendering of the word. Bode’s +complete translation was issued probably in October,[13] possibly late +in September, 1768, and bore the imprint of the publisher Cramer in +Hamburg and Bremen, but the volumes were printed at Bode’s own press and +were entitled “Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, +aus dem Englischen übersetzt.”[14] + +The translator’s preface occupies twenty pages and is an important +document in the story of Sterne’s popularity in Germany, since it +represents the introductory battle-cry of the Sterne cult, and +illustrates the attitude of cultured Germany toward the new star. Bode +begins his foreword with Lessing’s well-known statement of his devotion +to Sterne. Bode does not name Lessing; calls him “a well-known German +scholar.” The statement referred to was made when Bode brought to his +friend the news of Sterne’s death. It is worth repeating: + +“I would gladly have resigned to him five years of my own life, if such +a thing were possible, though I had known with certainty that I had only +ten, or even eight left. . . . but under the condition that he must keep +on writing, no matter what, life and opinions, or sermons, or journeys.” +On July 5, 1768, Lessing wrote to Nicolai, commenting on Winckelmann’s +death as follows: “He is the second author within a short time, to whom +I would have gladly given some years of my own life.”[15] + +Nearly thirty years later (March 20, 1797) Sara Wulf, whose maiden name +was Meyer and who was later and better known as Frau von Grotthus, wrote +from Dresden to Goethe of the consolation found in “Werther” after a +disappointing youthful love affair, and of Lessing’s conversation with +her then concerning Goethe. She reports Lessing’s words as follows: “You +will feel sometime what a genius Goethe is, I am sure of this. I have +always said I would give ten years of my own life if I had been able to +lengthen Sterne’s by one year, but Goethe consoles me in some measure +for his loss.”[16] + +It would be absurd to attach any importance to this variation of +statement. It does not indicate necessarily an affection for Sterne and +a regret at his loss, mathematically doubled in these seven or eight +years between Sterne’s death and the time of Lessing’s conversation with +Sara Meyer; it probably arises from a failure of memory on the part of +the lady, for Bode’s narrative of the anecdote was printed but a few +months after Sterne’s death, and Lessing made no effort to correct an +inaccuracy of statement, if such were the case, though he lived to see +four editions of Bode’s translation and consequently so many repetitions +of his expressed but impossible desire. Erich Schmidt[17] reduces this +willingness on Lessing’s part to one year,--an unwarranted liberty. + +These two testimonies of Lessing’s devotion are of importance in +defining his attitude toward Yorick. They attest the fact that this was +no passing fancy, no impulsive thought uttered on the moment when the +news of Sterne’s death was brought to him, and when the Sentimental +Journey could have been but a few weeks in his hands, but a deep-seated +desire, born of reflection and continued admiration.[18] The addition of +the word “Reisen” in Bode’s narrative is significant, for it shows that +Lessing must have become acquainted with the Sentimental Journey before +April 6, the date of the notice of Sterne’s death in the _Hamburgische +Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_;[19] that is, almost immediately after its +English publication, unless Bode, in his enthusiasm for the book which +he was offering the public, inserted the word unwarrantably in Lessing’s +statement. + +To return to Bode’s preface. With emphatic protestations, disclaiming +vanity in appealing to the authority of so distinguished a friend, Bode +proceeds to relate more in detail Lessing’s connection with his +endeavor. He does not say that Lessing suggested the translation to him, +though his account has been interpreted to mean that, and this fact has +been generally accepted by the historians of literature and the +biographers of Lessing.[20] The tone of Bode’s preface, however, rather +implies the contrary, and no other proof of the supposition is +available. What Bode does assert is merely that the name of the scholar +whom he quotes as having expressed a willingness to give a part of his +own life if Sterne’s literary activity might be continued, would create +a favorable prepossession for his original (“ein günstiges Vorurtheil”), +and that a translator is often fortunate enough if his selection of a +book to translate is not censured. All this implies, on Lessing’s part, +only an approval of Bode’s choice, a fact which would naturally follow +from the remarkable statement of esteem in the preceding sentence. Bode +says further that out of friendship for him and regard for the reader of +taste, this author (Lessing), had taken the trouble to go through the +whole translation, and then he adds the conventional request in such +circumstances, that the errors remaining may be attributed to the +translator and not to the friend. + +The use of the epithet “empfindsam” for “sentimental” is then the +occasion for some discussion, and its source is one of the facts +involved in Sterne’s German vogue which seem to have fastened themselves +on the memory of literature. Bode had in the first place translated the +English term by “sittlich,” a manifestly insufficient if not flatly +incorrect rendering, but his friend coined the word “empfindsam” for the +occasion and Bode quotes Lessing’s own words on the subject: + +“Bemerken Sie sodann dass sentimental ein neues Wort ist. War es Sternen +erlaubt, sich ein neues Wort zu bilden, so muss es eben darum auch +seinem Uebersetzer erlaubt seyn. Die Engländer hatten gar kein +Adjectivum von Sentiment: wir haben von Empfindung mehr als eines, +empfindlich, empfindbar, empfindungsreich, aber diese sagen alle etwas +anders. Wagen Sie, empfindsam! Wenn eine mühsame Reise eine Reise +heisst, bey der viel Mühe ist: so kann ja auch eine empfindsame Reise +eine Reise heissen, bey der viel Empfindung war. Ich will nicht sagen, +dass Sie die Analogie ganz auf ihrer Seite haben dürften. Aber was die +Leser vors erste bey dem Worte noch nicht denken mögen, sie sich nach +und nach dabey zu denken gewöhnen.”[21] + +The statement that Sterne coined the word “sentimental” is undoubtedly +incorrect,[22] but no one seems to have discovered and corrected the +error till Nicolai’s article on Sterne in the _Berlinische +Monatsschrift_ for February, 1795, in which it is shown that the word +had been used in older English novels, in “Sir Charles Grandison” +indeed.[23] It may well be that, as Böttiger hints,[24] the coining of +the word “empfindsam” was suggested to Lessing by Abbt’s similar +formation of “empfindnisz.”[25] + + [Transcriber’s Note: + The reference is to Böttinger, not to the present text.] + +The preface to this first edition of Bode’s translation of the +Sentimental Journey contains, further, a sketch of Sterne’s life,[26] +his character and his works. Bode relates the familiar story of the dog, +but misses the point entirely in rendering “puppy” by “Geck” in Sterne’s +reply, “So lang er ein Geck ist.” The watchcoat episode is narrated, and +a brief account is given of Sterne’s fortunes in London with Tristram +Shandy and the sermons. Allusion has already been made to the hints +thrown out in this sketch relative to the reading of Sterne in Germany. +A translation from Shandy of the passage descriptive of Parson Yorick +serves as a portrait for Sterne. + +A second edition of Bode’s work was published in 1769. The preface, +which is dated “Anfang des Monats Mai, 1769,” is in the main identical +with the first, but has some significant additions. A word is said +relative to his controversy with a critic, which is mentioned later.[27] +Bode confesses further that the excellence of his work is due to Ebert +and Lessing,[28] though modesty compelled his silence in the previous +preface concerning the source of his aid. Bode admits that even this +disclosure is prompted by the clever guess of a critic in the +_Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_,[29] who openly named +Lessing as the scholar referred to in the first introduction. The +addition and prominence of Ebert’s name is worthy of note, for in spite +of the plural mention[30] in the appendix to the introduction, his first +acknowledgment is to one friend only and there is no suggestion of +another counselor. Ebert’s connection with the Bode translation has been +overlooked in the distribution of influence, while the memorable coining +of the new word, supplemented by Böttiger’s unsubstantiated statements, +has emphasized Lessing’s service in this regard. Ebert is well-known as +an intelligent and appreciative student of English literature, and as a +translator, but his own works betray no trace of imitation or admiration +of Sterne. + +The final words of this new preface promise a translation of the +continuation of the Sentimental Journey; the spurious volumes of +Eugenius are, of course, the ones meant here. This introduction to the +second edition remains unchanged in the subsequent ones. The text of the +second edition was substantially an exact reproduction of the first, +but Bode allowed himself frequent minor changes of word or phrase, an +alteration occurring on an average once in about three pages. Bode’s +changes are in general the result of a polishing or filing process, in +the interest of elegance of discourse, or accuracy of translation. Bode +acknowledges that some of the corrections were those suggested by a +reviewer,[31] but states that other passages criticised were allowed to +stand as they were. He says further that he would have asked those +friends who had helped him on his translation itself to aid him in the +alterations, if distance and other conditions had allowed. The reference +here is naturally to his separation from Ebert, who was in Braunschweig, +but the other “conditions” which could prevent a continuation of +Lessing’s interest in the translation and his assistance in revision are +not evident. Lessing was in Hamburg during this period, and hence his +advice was available. + +Bode’s retranslation of the passage with which Sterne’s work closed +shows increased perception and appreciation for the subtleness of +Sterne’s indecent suggestions, or, perhaps, a growing lack of timidity +or scruple in boldly repeating them. It is probable that the +continuation by Eugenius, which had come into his hands during this +period, had, with its resumption of the point, reminded Bode of the +inadequacy and inexactness of his previous rendering. + +At almost precisely the same time that Bode’s translation appeared, +another German rendering was published, a fact which in itself is +significant for the determination of the relative strength of appeal as +between Sterne’s two works of fiction. The title[32] of this version was +“Versuch über die menschliche Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des +Tristram Shandy, Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, aus dem +Englischen.” It was dated 1769 and was published at the “Fürstliche +Waisenhausbuchhandlung,” in Braunschweig. The preface is signed +Braunschweig, September 7, 1768, and the book was issued in September or +October. The anonymous translator was Pastor Mittelstedt[33] in +Braunschweig (Hirsching und Jördens say Hofprediger), whom the partisan +Böttiger calls the ever-ready manufacturer of translations (der allezeit +fertige Uebersetzungsfabrikant). Behmer tentatively suggests Weis as the +translator of this early rendering, an error into which he is led +evidently by a remark in Bode’s preface in which the apologetic +translator states the rumor that Weis was engaged in translating the +same book, and that he (Bode) would surely have locked up his work in +his desk if the publisher had not thereby been led to suffer loss. +Nothing was ever heard of this third translation. + +This first edition of the Mittelstedt translation contains 248 pages and +is supplied with a preface which is, like Bode’s, concerned in +considerable measure with the perplexing problem of the translation of +Sterne’s title. The English title is given and the word “sentimental” is +declared a new one in England and untranslatable in German. Mittelstedt +proposes “Gefühlvolle Reisen,” “Reisen fürs Herz,” “Philosophische +Reisen,” and then condemns his own suggestions as indeterminate and +forced. He then goes on to say, “So I have chosen the title which Yorick +himself suggests in the first part.”[34] He speaks of the lavish praise +already bestowed on this book by the learned journals, and turns at last +aside to do the obvious: he bemoans Sterne’s death by quoting Hamlet and +closes with an apostrophe to Sterne translated from the April number of +the _Monthly Review_ for 1768.[35] In 1769, the year when the first +edition was dated, the Mittelstedt translation was published under a +slightly altered title, as already mentioned. This second edition of the +Mittelstedt translation in the same year as the first is overlooked by +Jördens and Hirsching,[36] both of whom give a second and hence really a +third edition in 1774. Böttiger notes with partisan zeal that Bode’s +translation was made use of in some of the alterations of this second +edition, and further records the fact that the account of Sterne’s life, +added in this edition, was actually copied from Bode’s preface.[37] + +The publication of the Mittelstedt translation was the occasion of a +brief controversy between the two translators in contemporary journals. +Mittelstedt printed his criticism of Bode’s work in a home paper, the +_Braunschweiger Intelligenzblätter_, and Bode spoke out his defense in +the _Neue Hamburger Zeitung_. That Bode in his second edition adopted +some of the reviewer’s suggestions and criticisms has been noted, but in +the preface to this edition he declines to resume the strife in spite of +general expectation of it, but, as a final shot, he delivers himself of +“an article from his critical creed,” that the “critic is as little +infallible as author or translator,” which seems, at any rate, a rather +pointless and insignificant contribution to the controversy. + +Bode’s translation of the third and fourth volumes of Yorick’s +Journey,[38] that is, the continuation by Eugenius, followed directly +after the announcement in the preface to the second edition of the first +two volumes, as already mentioned. Böttiger states that Bode had this +continuation from Alberti and knew it before anyone else in Germany. It +was published in England in the spring of 1769, and was greeted with a +disapproval which was quite general, and it never enjoyed there any +considerable genuine popularity or recognition. Bode published this +translation of Stevenson’s work without any further word of comment or +explanation whatsoever, a fact which easily paved the way for a +misunderstanding relative to the volumes, for Bode was frequently +regarded as their author and held responsible for their defects. Bode +himself never made any satisfactory or adequate explanation of his +attitude toward these volumes, and the reply to Goeze in the +introduction to his translation of Shandy is the nearest approach to a +discussion of his position. But there Bode is concerned only with the +attack made by the Hamburg pastor upon his character, an inference drawn +from the nature of the book translated, and the character of the +translation; in the absence of a new edition in which “Mine and His +shall be marked off by distinct boundaries,” he asks Goeze only to send +to him, and beg “for original and translation,” naturally for the +purpose of comparison. This evasive reply is Bode’s only defense or +explanation. Böttiger claims that the review of Bode’s translation in +the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ did much to spread the idea of +Bode’s authorship, though the reviewer in that periodical[39] only +suggests the possibility of German authorship, a suspicion aroused by +the substitution of German customs and motif and word-play, together +with contemporary literary allusion, allusion to literary mediocrities +and obscurities, of such a nature as to preclude the possibility of the +book’s being a literal translation from the English. + +The exact amount and the nature of Bode’s divergence from the original, +his alterations and additions, have never been definitely stated by +anyone. The reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ is +manifestly ignorant of the original. Böttiger is indefinite and +partisan, yet his statement of the facts has been generally accepted and +constantly repeated. He admits the German coloring given the translation +by Bode through German allusions and German word-plays: he says that +Bode allowed himself these liberties, feeling that he was no longer +dealing with Sterne, a statement of motive on Bode’s part which the +latter never makes and never hints at. The only absolute additions which +Böttiger mentions as made by Bode to the narrative of Eugenius are the +episode, “Das Hündchen,” and the digression, “Die Moral.” The erroneous +idea herein implied has been caught up and repeated by nearly everyone +who has mentioned Bode’s translation of the work.[40] The less certain +allusion to “Die Moral” has been lost sight of, and “Das Hündchen” alone +has been remembered as representing this activity on Bode’s part. In +fact this episode is only one of many pure creations on Bode’s part and +one of the briefer. In the first pages of these volumes Bode is faithful +to the original, a fact suggesting that examination or comparison of the +original text and Bode’s translation was never carried beyond the first +two-score pages; yet here, it would seem, Bode’s rendering was less +careful, more open to censure for inaccuracy, than in the previous +volumes.[41] + +This method of translation obtains up to page 48, then Bode omits a +half-page of half-innocent, half-revolting suggestion, the story of the +Cordelier, and from the middle of page 49 to page 75, twenty-five pages, +the translator adds material absolutely his own. This fiction, +introducing Yorick’s sentimental attitude toward the snuff-box, resuming +a sentimental episode in Sterne’s work, full of tears and sympathy, +is especially characteristic of Yorick, as the Germans conceived him. +The story is entitled “Das Mündel,”[42] “The Ward,” and is evidently +intended as a masculine companion-piece to the fateful story of Maria of +Moulines, linked to it even in the actual narrative itself. An +unfortunate, half-crazed man goes about in silence, performing little +services in an inn where Yorick finds lodging. The hostess tells his +story. He was once the brilliant son of the village miller, was +well-educated and gifted with scholarly interests and attainments. While +instructing some children at Moulines, he meets a peasant girl, and love +is born between them. An avaricious brother opposes Jacques’s passion +and ultimately confines him in secret, spreading the report in Moulines +of his faithlessness to his love. After a tragedy has released Jacques +from his unnatural bondage, he learns of his loved one’s death and loses +his mental balance through grief. Such an addition to the brief pathos +of Maria’s story, as narrated by Sterne, such a forced explanation of +the circumstances, is peculiarly commonplace and inartistic. Sterne +instinctively closed the episode with sufficient allowance for the +exercise of the imagination. + +Following this addition, the section “Slander” of the original is +omitted. The story of the adventure with the opera-girl is much changed. +The bald indecency of the narrative is somewhat softened by minor +substitutions and omissions. Nearly two pages are inserted here, in +which Yorick discourses on the difference between a sentimental traveler +and an _avanturier_. On pages 122-126, the famous “Hündchen” episode is +narrated, an insertion taking the place of the hopelessly vulgar “Rue +Tireboudin.” According to this narrative, Yorick, after the fire, enters +a home where he finds a boy weeping over a dead dog and refusing to be +comforted with promises of other canine possessions. The critics united +in praising this as being a positive addition to the Yorick adventures, +as conceived and related in Sterne’s finest manner. After the lapse of +more than a century, one can acknowledge the pathos, the humanity of the +incident, but the manner is not that of Sterne. It is a simple, +straight-forward relation of the touching incident, introducing that +element of the sentimental movement which bears in Germany a close +relation to Yorick, and was exploited, perhaps, more than any other +feature of his creed, as then interpreted, _i.e._, the sentimental +regard for the lower animals.[43] But there is lacking here the +inevitable concomitant of Sterne’s relation of a sentimental situation, +the whimsicality of the narrator in his attitude at the time of the +adventure, or reflective whimsicality in the narration. Sterne is always +whimsically quizzical in his conduct toward a sentimental condition, or +toward himself in the analysis of his conduct. + +After the “Vergebene Nachforschung” (Unsuccessful Inquiry), which agrees +with the original, Bode adds two pages covering the touching solicitude +of La Fleur for his master’s safety. This addition is, like the +“Hündchen” episode, just mentioned, of considerable significance, for it +illustrates another aspect of Sterne’s sentimental attitude toward human +relations, which appealed to the Germany of these decades and was +extensively copied; the connection between master and man. Following +this added incident, Bode omits completely three sections of Eugenius’s +original narrative, “The Definition,” “Translation of a Fragment” and +“An Anecdote;” all three are brief and at the same time of baldest, most +revolting indecency. In all, Bode’s direct additions amount in this +first volume to about thirty-three pages out of one hundred and +forty-two. The divergences from the original are in the second volume +(the fourth as numbered from Sterne’s genuine Journey) more marked and +extensive: above fifty pages are entirely Bode’s own, and the individual +alterations in word, phrase, allusion and sentiment are more numerous +and unwarranted. The more significant of Bode’s additions are here +noted. “Die Moral” (pages 32-37) contains a fling at Collier, the author +of a mediocre English translation of Klopstock’s “Messias,” and another +against Kölbele, a contemporary German novelist, whose productions have +long since been forgotten.[44] + +Eugenius’s chapter, “Vendredi-Saint,” Bode sees fit to alter in a rather +extraordinary way, by changing the personnel and giving it quite another +introduction. He inserts here a brief account of Walter Shandy, his +disappointment at Tristram’s calamitous nose and Tristram’s name, and +his resolve to perfect his son’s education; and then he makes the visit +to M’lle Laborde, as narrated by Eugenius, an episode out of Walter +Shandy’s book, which was written for Tristram’s instruction, and, +according to Bode, was delivered for safe-keeping into Yorick’s hands. +Bode changes M’lle Laborde into M’lle Gillet, and Walter Shandy is her +visitor, not Yorick. Bode allows himself some verbal changes and softens +the bald suggestion at the end. Bode’s motive for this startling change +is not clear beyond question. The most plausible theory is that the open +and gross suggestion of immoral relation between Yorick, the clergyman +and moralist, and the Paris maiden, seemed to Bode inconsistent with the +then current acceptation of Yorick’s character; and hence he preferred +by artifice to foist the misdemeanor on to the elder Shandy. + +The second extensive addition of Bode’s in this volume is the section +called “Die Erklärung,” and its continuation in the two following +divisions, a story which unites itself with the “Fragment” in Sterne’s +original narration. Yorick is ill and herbs are brought to him in paper +wrappings which turn out to contain the story of the decayed gentleman, +which, according to Sterne’s relation, the Notary was beginning to +write. It will be remembered that the introduction in Sterne was also +brought by La Fleur as a bit of wrapping paper. This curious +coincidence, this prosaic resumption of the broken narrative, is naïve +at least, but can hardly commend itself to any critic as being other +than commonplace and bathetic. The story itself, as related by the dying +man is a tale of accidental incest told quietly, earnestly, but without +a suggestion of Sterne’s wit or sentiment. + +In the next section, emanating entirely from Bode, “Vom +Gesundheitstrinken,” the author is somewhat more successful in catching +the spirit of Sterne in his buoyancy, and in his whimsical anecdote +telling: it purports to be an essay by the author’s friend, Grubbius. +The last addition made by Bode[45] introduces once more Yorick’s +sentiment relative to man’s treatment of the animal world. Yorick, +walking in the garden of an acquaintance, shoots a sparrow and meets +with reproof from the owner of the garden. Yorick protests prosaically +that it was only a sparrow, yet on being assured that it was also a +living being, he succumbs to vexation and self-reproof at his own +failure to be true to his own higher self. A similar regret, a similar +remorse at sentimental thoughtlessness, is recorded of the real Yorick +in connection with the Franciscan, Lorenzo. But there is present in +Sterne’s story the inevitable element of caprice in thought or action, +the whimsical inconsistency of varying moods, not a mere commonplace +lapse from a sentimental creed. In one case, Yorick errs through whim, +in the other, merely through heedlessness. + +Bode’s attitude toward the continuation of Eugenius and the general +nature of his additions have been suggested by the above account. +A résumé of the omissions and the verbal changes would indicate that +they were made frequently because of the indecency of the original; +the transference of the immorality in the episode of M’lle. Laborde and +Walter Shandy, if the reason above suggested be allowed, is further +proof of Bode’s solicitude for Yorick’s moral reputation. Yet the +retention of the episode “Les Gants d’Amour” in its entirety, and of +parts of the continued story of the Piedmontese, may seem inconsistent +and irreconcilable with any absolute objection on Bode’s part other than +a quantitative one, to this loathesome element of the Eugenius +narrative. + +Albrecht Wittenberg[46] in a letter to Jacobi, dated Hamburg, April 21, +1769, says he reads that Riedel is going to continue “Yorick’s Reisen,” +and comments upon the exceedingly difficult undertaking. Nothing further +is known of this plan of Riedel’s. + + + [Footnote 1: Various German authorities date the Sentimental + Journey erroneously 1767. Jördens, V, p. 753; Koberstein, III, + p. 463; Hirsching, XIII, pp. 291-309.] + + [Footnote 2: The reviewer in the _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ (Anhang + I-XII, vol. II, p. 896) implies a contemporary cognizance of this + aid to its popularity. He notes the interest in accounts of + travels and fears that some readers will be disappointed after + taking up the book. Some French books of travel, notably + Chapelle’s “Voyage en Provence,” 1656, were read with appreciation + by cultivated Germany and had their influence parallel and + auxiliary to Sterne’s.] + + [Footnote 3: In the Seventh Book of Tristram Shandy. III, + pp. 47-110.] + + [Footnote 4: III, pp. 210-213.] + + [Footnote 5: The emotional groundwork in Germany which furthered + the appreciation of the Journey, and the sober sanity of British + common sense which choked its English sweep, are admirably and + typically illustrated in the story of the meeting of Fanny Burney + and Sophie la Roche, as told in the diary of the former (“The + Diary and Letters of Frances Burney, Madame D’Arblay,” Boston, + 1880, I, p. 291), entries for September 11 and 17, 1786. On their + second meeting Mme. D’Arblay writes of the German sentimentalist: + “Madame la Roche then rising and fixing her eyes filled with tears + on my face, while she held both my hands, in the most melting + accents exclaimed, ‘Miss Borni, la plus chère, la plus digne des + Anglaises, dites--moi--m’aimez vous?’” Miss Burney is quite + sensibly frank in her inability to fathom this imbecility. + Ludmilla Assing (“Sophie la Roche,” Berlin, 1859, pp. 273-280) + calls Miss Burney cold and petty.] + + [Footnote 6: So heartily did the Germans receive the Sentimental + Journey that it was felt ere long to be almost a German book. + The author of “Ueber die schönen Geister und Dichter des 18ten + Jahrhunderts vornehmlich unter den Deutschen,” by J. C. Fritsch + (?) (Lemgo, 1771), gives the book among German stories and + narratives (pp. 177-9) along with Hagedorn, Gellert, Wieland and + others. He says of the first parts of the Sentimental Journey, + “zwar . . . . aus dem Englischen übersetzt; kann aber für national + passieren.”] + + [Footnote 7: Michael Montaigne’s “Gedanken und Meinungen über + Allerley Gegenstände. Ins Deutsch übersetzt.” Berlin (Lagarde) + 1793-5. Bode’s life is in Vol. VI, pages III-CXLIV. For a review + of Bode’s Life see _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, LVIII, + p. 93.] + + [Footnote 8: Supplementband für 1790-93, pp. 350-418.] + + [Footnote 9: The references to the _Hamburgische + Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ are as follows: 1768, pages 241, 361 + and 369 respectively.] + + [Footnote 10: Pp. 71-74.] + + [Footnote 11: Pp. 101-104. “The Temptation” and the “Conquest.” + The _Unterhaltungen_ is censured by the _Deutsche Bibliothek der + schönen Wissenschaften_, III, p. 266, for printing a poor + translation from Yorick when two translations had already been + announced. The references to _Unterhaltungen_ are respectively pp. + 12-16, and 209-213.] + + [Footnote 12: See below, p. 42-3.] + + [Footnote 13: It was reviewed in the _Hamburgischer + unpartheyischer Correspondent_, Oct. 29.] + + [Footnote 14: I, pp. XX, 168; II, p. 168.] + + [Footnote 15: Lachmann’s edition, 1840, XII, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 16: See _Goethe-Jahrbuch_, XIV (1893), pp. 51-52.] + + [Footnote 17: “Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Goethe’s Jugendgenosse,” + 2d ed. Jena, Frommann, 1879, p. 104.] + + [Footnote 18: It is not possible to date with absolute certainty + the time of Lessing’s conversation with Sara Meyer, but it was + after the publication of “Werther,” and must have been on one of + his two visits to Berlin after that, that is, in March, 1775, + on his way to Vienna, or in February, 1776, on his return from + Italy.] + + [Footnote 19: Bode must have come to Lessing with the information + before this public announcement, for Lessing could hardly have + failed to learn of it when once published in a prominent Hamburg + periodical.] + + [Footnote 20: Böttiger in his biographical sketch of Bode is the + first to make this statement (p. lxiii), and the spread of the + idea and its general acceptation are directly traceable to his + authority. The _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_ in its + review of Böttiger’s work repeats the statement (LVIII, p. 97), + and it is again repeated by Jördens (I, p. 114, edition of 1806), + by Danzel-Guhrauer with express mention of Böttiger (“Lessing, + sein Leben und seine Werke,” II. Erste Abtheilung, p. 287), and by + Erich Schmidt (“Lessing, Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner + Schriften,” Berlin, 1899, I, p. 674). The editor of the Hempel + edition, VII, p. 553 claims Lessing as responsible for the + translation of the Journey, and also of Shandy. The success of the + “Empfindsame Reise” and the popularity of Sterne are quite enough + to account for the latter translation and there is no evidence of + urging on Lessing’s part. A similar statement is found in Gervinus + (V, p. 194). The _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._ (Apr. 21, 1775), p. 267, + credits Wieland with having urged Bode to translate Shandy. The + _Neue Critische Nachrichten, Greifswald_, IX, p. 279, makes the + same statement. The article, however, in the _Teutscher Merkur_ + (1773, II, pp. 228-30) expresses merely a great satisfaction that + Bode is engaged upon the work, and gives some suggestions to him + about it.] + + [Footnote 21: See Bode’s Introduction, p. iii, iv. Also _Allg. + deutsche Bibl._, Anhang, I-XII, Vol. II, pp. 896-9.] + + [Footnote 22: Strangely enough the first use of this word which + has been found is in one of Sterne’s letters, written in 1740 to + the lady who subsequently became his wife. (Letters, p. 25). But + these letters were not published till 1775, long after the word + was in common use. An obscure Yorkshire clergyman can not be + credited with its invention.] + + [Footnote 23: Böttiger refers to Campe’s work, “Ueber die + Bereicherung und Reinigung der deutschen Sprache,” p. 297 ff., + for an account of the genesis of this word, but adds that Campe is + incorrect in his assertion that Sterne coined the word. Campe does + not make the erroneous statement at all, but Bode himself puts it + in the mouth of Lessing.] + + [Footnote 24: See foot note to page lxiii.] + + [Footnote 25: For particulars concerning this parallel formation + see Mendelssohn’s Schriften, ed. by G. B. Mendelssohn, Leipzig, + 1844. V, pp. 330, 335-7, letters between Abbt, Mendelssohn, + Nicolai.] + + [Footnote 26: The source of Bode’s information is the article by + Dr. Hill, first published in the _Royal Female Magazine_ for + April, 1760, and reprinted in the _London Chronicle_, May 5, 1760 + (pp. 434-435), under the title, “Anecdotes of a fashionable + Author.” Bode’s sketch is an abridged translation of this article. + This article is referred to in Sterne’s letters, I, pp. 38-9, 42.] + + [Footnote 27: See p. 47.] + + [Footnote 28: “Dass ich das Gute, was man an meiner Uebersetzung + findet, grössten Theils denen Herren Ebert und Lessing zu + verdanken habe.”] + + [Footnote 29: _Hamburgischer Unpartheyischer Correspondent_, + October 29, 1768.] + + [Footnote 30: “Verschwieg ich die Namen dieser Männer.”] + + [Footnote 31: See p. 47.] + + [Footnote 32: Jördens gives this title, which is the correct one. + Appell in “Werther und seine Zeit,” (p. 247) calls it “Herrn + Yoricks, Verfasser (sic) des Tristram Shandy Reisen durch + Frankreich und Italien, als ein Versuch über die menschliche + Natur,” which is the title of the second edition published later, + but with the same date. See _Allg. deutsche Bibliothek_, Anhang, + I-XII, Vol. II, pp. 896-9. Kayser and Heinsius both give + “Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, oder Versuch + über die menschliche Natur,” which is evidently a confusion with + the better known Bode translation, an unconscious effort to locate + the book.] + + [Footnote 33: Through some strange confusion, a reviewer in the + _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_ (1769, p. 574) states + that Ebert is the author of this translation; he also asserts that + Bode and Lessing had translated the book; it is reported too that + Bode is to issue a new translation in which he makes use of the + work of Lessing and Ebert, a most curious record of uncertain + rumor.] + + [Footnote 34: See p. 31, “In the Street, Calais.” “If this won’t + turn out something, another will. No matter,--’tis an essay upon + human nature.”] + + [Footnote 35: _Monthly Review_, XXXVIII, p. 319: “Gute Nacht, + bewunderungswürdiger Yorick! Dein Witz, Deine Menschenliebe! Dein + redliches Herz! ein jedes untadelhafte Stück deines Lebens und + deiner Schriften müsse in einem unsterblichen Gedächtnisse + blühen,--und O! mögte der Engel, der jenes aufgezeichnet hat, + über die Unvollkommenheiten von beiden eine Thräne des Mitleidens + fallen lassen und sie auf ewig auslöschen.”] + + [Footnote 36: Jördens, V, p. 753. Hirsching, + Historisch-litterarisches Handbuch, XIII, pp. 291-309 (1809).] + + [Footnote 37: It has not been possible to examine this second + edition, but the information concerning Sterne’s life may quite + possibly have been taken not from Bode’s work but from his sources + as already given.] + + [Footnote 38: “Yoriks empfindsame Reise, aus dem Englischen + übersetzt,” 3ter und 4ter Theil, Hamburg und Bremen, bei Cramer, + 1769.] + + [Footnote 39: See _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ Anhang, I-XII, Vol. II, + pp. 896-9. Hirsching (Hist.-Litt. Handbuch) says confusedly that + Bode wrote the fourth and fifth parts.] + + [Footnote 40: See _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, LVIII, + p. 98, “Im dritten Bande ist die rührende Geschichte, das + Hündchen, ganz von ihm.” Also Jördens, I, 114, Heine, “Der + deutsche Roman,” p. 23.] + + [Footnote 41: The following may serve as examples of inadequate, + inexact or false renderings: + + ORIGINAL + BODE’S TRANSLATION + + Like a stuck pig. + P. 5: Eine arme Hexe, die Feuer-Probe machen soll. + + Dress as well as undress. + P. 9: Der Kleidung als der Einkleidung. + + Chance medley of sensation. + P. 11: Unschuldiges Verbrechen der Sinne. + + Where serenity was wont to fix her reign. + P. 13: Wo die Heiterkeit ihren Sitz aufgeschlagen hatte. + + Wayward shades of my canvas. + P. 20: Die harten Schattirungen meines Gewebes. + + Caterpillars. + P. 22: Heuschrecken. + + The chance medley of existence. + P. 23: Das unschuldige Verbrechen des Daseyns.] + + [Footnote 42: Bode’s story, “Das Mündel” was printed in the + _Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_, 1769, p. 729 (November + 23) and p. 753 (December 4).] + + [Footnote 43: There will be frequent occasion to mention this + impulse emanating from Sterne, in the following pages. One may + note incidentally an anonymous book “Freundschaften” (Leipzig, + 1775) in which the author beholds a shepherd who finds a torn lamb + and indulges in a sentimental reverie upon it. _Allg. deutsche + Bibl._, XXXVI, 1, 139.] + + [Footnote 44: Bode inserts “Miss Judith Meyer” and “Miss + Philippine Damiens,” two poor novels by this Kölbele in place of + Eugenius’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Böttiger comments, “statt des im + englischen Original angeführten schalen Romans ‘The Pilgrim’s + Progress.’” Bode, in translating Shandy several years later, + inserts for the same book, “Thousand and one Nights.” In speaking + of this, Böttiger calls “Pilgrim’s Progress” “die schale + engländische Robinsonade,” an eloquent proof of Böttiger’s + ignorance of English literature.] + + [Footnote 45: Pp. 166 ff.] + + [Footnote 46: _Quellen und Forschungen_, XXII, p. 129.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +STERNE IN GERMANY AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY + + +The publication of the Sentimental Journey, as implied in the previous +chapter, brought Sterne into vital connection with literary impulses and +emotional experiences in Germany, and his position as a leader was at +once recognized. Because of the immediate translations, the reviews of +the English original are markedly few, even in journals which gave +considerable attention to English literary affairs. The _Neue Bibliothek +der schönen Wissenschaften_[1] purposely delays a full review of the +book because of the promised translation, and contents itself with the +remark, “that we have not read for a long time anything more full of +sentiment and humor.” Yet, strangely enough, the translation is never +worthily treated, only the new edition of 1771 is mentioned,[2] with +especial praise of Füger’s illustrations. + +Other journals devote long reviews to the new favorite: according to the +_Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_[3] all the learned +periodicals vied with one another in lavish bestowal of praise upon +these Journeys. The journals consulted go far toward justifying this +statement. + +The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ reviews both the Bode and +Mittelstedt renderings, together with Bode’s translation of Stevenson’s +continuation, in the second volume of the Anhang to Volumes I-XII.[4] +The critique of Bode’s work defines, largely in the words of the book +itself, the peculiar purpose and method of the Journey, and comments +briefly but with frank enthusiasm on the various touching incidents of +the narrative: “Nur ein von der Natur verwahrloseter bleibt dabei kalt +und gleichgültig,” remarks the reviewer. The conception of Yorick’s +personal character, which prevailed in Germany, obtained by a process of +elimination and misunderstanding, is represented by this critic when he +records without modifying his statement: “Various times Yorick shows +himself as the most genuine foe of self-seeking, of immoral _double +entendre_, and particularly of assumed seriousness, and he scourges them +emphatically.” The review of the third and fourth parts contains a +similar and perhaps even more significant passage illustrating the view +of Yorick’s character held by those who did not know him and had the +privilege of admiring him only in his writings and at a safe distance. +“Yorick,” he says, “although he sometimes brings an event, so to speak, +to the brink of an indecorous issue, manages to turn it at once with the +greatest delicacy to a decorous termination. Or he leaves it incomplete +under such circumstances that the reader is impressed by the rare +delicacy of mind of the author, and can never suspect that such a man, +who never allows a _double entendre_ to enter his mind without a blush, +has entertained an indecent idea.” This view is derived from a somewhat +short-sighted reading of the Sentimental Journey: the obvious Sterne of +Tristram Shandy, and the more insidiously concealed creator of the +Journey could hardly be characterized discriminatingly by such a +statement. Sterne’s cleverness consists not in suggesting his own +innocence of imagination, but in the skill with which he assures his +reader that he is master of the situation, and that no possible +interpretation of the passage has escaped his intelligence. To the +Mittelstedt translation is accorded in this review the distinction of +being, in the rendering of certain passages, more correct than Bode’s. +A reviewer in the _Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitung_[5] treats of the +Sentimental Journey in the Mittelstedt translation. He is evidently +unfamiliar with the original and does not know of Bode’s work, yet his +admiration is unbounded, though his critique is without distinction or +discrimination. The _Neue Critische Nachrichten_[6] of Greifswald gives +a review of Bode’s rendering in which a parallel with Shakespeare is +suggested. The original mingling of instruction and waggery is commented +upon, imitation is discouraged, and the work is held up as a test, +through appreciation or failure to appreciate, of a reader’s ability to +follow another’s feelings, to understand far-away hints and allusions, +to follow the tracks of an irregular and errant wit. + +The _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_ for October 29, 1768, +regards the book in Bode’s translation as an individual, unparalleled +work of genius and discourses at length upon its beneficent medicinal +effects upon those whose minds and hearts are perplexed and clouded. +The wanton passages are acknowledged, but the reviewer asserts that the +author must be pardoned them for the sake of his generous and +kind-hearted thoughts. The Mittelstedt translation is also quoted and +parallel passages are adduced to demonstrate the superiority of Bode’s +translation. + +The Germans naturally learned to know the continuation of Eugenius +chiefly through Bode’s translation, designated as the third and fourth +volumes of the work, and thus because of the sanction of the +intermediary, were led to regard Stevenson’s tasteless, tedious and +revolting narrative with a larger measure of favor than would presumably +have been accorded to the original, had it been circulated extensively +in Germany. After years the _Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung_[7] implies +incidentally that Bode’s esteeming this continuation worthy of his +attention is a fact to be taken into consideration in judging its +merits, and states that Bode beautified it. Bode’s additions and +alterations were, as has been pointed out, all directly along the line +of the Yorick whom the Germans had made for themselves. It is +interesting to observe that the reviewer of these two volumes of the +continuation in the _Neue Critische Nachrichten_,[8] while recognizing +the inevitability of failure in such a bold attempt, and acknowledging +that the outward form of the work may by its similarity be at first +glance seductive, notes two passages of sentiment “worthy even of a +Yorick,”--the episode “Das Hündchen” and the anecdote of the sparrows +which the traveler shot in the garden: both are additions on Bode’s +part, and have no connection with the original. The reviewer thus +singled out for especial approval two interpolations by the German +translator, incidents which in their conception and narration have not +the true English Yorick ring. + +The success of the Sentimental Journey increased the interest in the +incomprehensible Shandy. Lange’s new edition of Zückert’s translation +has been noted, and before long Bode[9] was induced to undertake a +German rendering of the earlier and longer novel. This translation was +finished in the summer of 1774, the preface being dated “End of August.” +The foreword is mainly concerned with Goeze’s attack on Bode’s personal +character, a thrust founded on Bode’s connection with the Sentimental +Journey and its continuation. At the close of this introduction Bode +says that, without undervaluing the intelligence of his readers, he had +regarded notes as essential, but because of his esteem for the text, +and a parental affection for the notes, he has foreborne to insert them +here. “So they still lie in my desk, as many as there are of them, but +upon pressing hints they might be washed and combed, and then be +published under the title perhaps of a ‘Real und Verballexicon über +Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen.’” This hint of a work of his own, +serving as a commentary to Tristram Shandy, has been the occasion of +some discussion. A reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[10] +in an account of Bode’s and Wichmann’s renderings of “Tom Jones,” begs +Bode to fulfill the hopes thus raised, saying he could give Yorick’s +friends no more valuable or treasured gift. Böttiger in his biographical +sketch of Bode expressed regret that the work never saw the light, +adding that the work contained so many allusions to contemporary +celebrities and hits upon Bode’s acquaintance that wisdom had consigned +to oblivion.[11] A correspondent, writing to the _Teutscher Merkur_,[12] +minimizes the importance of this so-called commentary, saying “er hatte +nie einen Kommentar der Art, . . . auch nur angefangen auszuarbeiten. +Die ganze Sache gründet sich auf eine scherzhafte Aeusserung gegen +seinem damaligen Freund in Hamburg, welchen er oft mit der ihm eignen +Ironie mit diesem Kommentar zu drohen pflegte.” + +The list of subscribers to Bode’s translation contained upwards of 650 +names, among which are Boie, Claudius, Einsieder, Gerstenberg, Gleim, +Fräulein von Göchhausen, Goethe, Hamann, Herder, Hippel, Jacobi, +Klopstock, Schummel, Wieland (five copies), and Zimmermann. The names of +Ebert and Lessing are not on the list. The number of subscribers in +Mitau (twelve) is worthy of note, as illustrating the interest in Sterne +still keenly alive in this small and far away town, undoubtedly a direct +result of the admiration so lavishly expressed in other years by Herder, +Hamann and their circle. + +The translation was hailed then as a masterly achievement of an arduous +task, the difficulties of which are only the less appreciated because of +the very excellence of the performance. It contrasts most strikingly +with its clumsy predecessor in its approximation to Sterne’s deftness of +touch, his delicate turns of phrase, his seemingly obvious and facile, +but really delicate and accurate choice of expression. Zückert was +heavy, commonplace, uncompromisingly literal and bristling with +inaccuracies. Bode’s work was unfortunately not free from errors in +spite of its general excellence, yet it brought the book within reach of +those who were unable to read it in English, and preserved, in general +with fidelity, the spirit of the original. The reviews were prodigal of +praise. Wieland’s expressions of admiration were full-voiced and +extensive.[13] + +The _Wandsbecker Bothe_ for October 28, 1774, asserts that many readers +in England had not understood the book as well as Bode, a frequent +expression of inordinate commendation; that Bode follows close on the +heels of Yorick on his most intimate expeditions. The _Frankfurter +Gelehrte Anzeigen_[14] copies in full the translation of the first +chapter as both Zückert and Bode rendered it, and praises the latter in +unqualified terms; Bode appears as “Yorick’s rescuer.” Several years +later, in the _Deutsches Museum_, the well-known French translation of +Shandy by Frenais is denounced as intolerable (unerträglich) to a German +who is acquainted with Bode’s,[15] an opinion emphasized later in the +same magazine[16] by Joseph von Retzer. Indeed, upon these two +translations from Sterne rests Bode’s reputation as a translator. His +“Tom Jones” was openly criticised as bearing too much of Sterne,[17] so +great was the influence of Yorick upon the translator. Klamer Schmidt in +a poem called “Klamersruh, eine ländlich malerische Dichtung,”[18] +dilating upon his favorite authors during a country winter, calls Bode +“our Sterne” and “the ideal translator,” and in some verses by the same +poet, quoted in the article on Bode in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog,”[19] +is found a very significant stanza expressing Sterne’s immeasurable +obligation to his German translator: + + “Er geht zu dir nun, unser Bode! + Empfang ihn, Yoriks Geist! Auch dein + Erbarmt er sich, + Errettete vom Tode + Der Uebersetzer dich!” + +Matthison in his “Gruss aus der Heimath,”[20] pays similar tribute in a +vision connected with a visit to Bode’s resting-place in Weimar. It is a +fanciful relation: as Bode’s shade is received with jubilation and +delight in the Elysian Fields by Cervantes, Rabelais, Montaigne, +Fielding and Sterne, the latter censures Bode for distrusting his own +creative power, indicating that he might have stood with the group just +enumerated, that the fame of being “the most excellent transcriber” of +his age should not have sufficed. + +In view of all this marked esteem, it is rather surprising to find a few +years later a rather sweeping, if apologetic, attack on the rendering of +Shandy. J. L. Benzler, the librarian of Graf Stolberg at Wernigerode, +published in 1801 a translation of Shandy which bore the legend “Newly +translated into German,” but was really a new edition of Bode’s work +with various corrections and alterations.[21] Benzler claims in his +preface that there had been no translation of the masterpiece worthy of +the original, and this was because the existing translation was from the +pen of Bode, in whom one had grown to see the very ideal of a +translator, and because praise had been so lavishly bestowed on the work +by the critics. He then asserts that Bode never made a translation which +did not teem with mistakes; he translated incorrectly through +insufficient knowledge of English, confusing words which sound alike, +made his author say precisely the opposite of what he really did say, +was often content with the first best at hand, with the half-right, and +often erred in taste;--a wholesale and vigorous charge. After such a +disparagement, Benzler disclaims all intention to belittle Bode, or his +service, but he condescendingly ascribes Bode’s failure to his lowly +origin, his lack of systematic education, and of early association with +the cultured world. Benzler takes Bode’s work as a foundation and +rewrites. Some of his changes are distinctly advantageous, and that so +few of these errors in Bode’s translation were noted by contemporary +critics is a proof of their ignorance of the original, or their utter +confidence in Bode.[22] Benzler in his preface of justification +enumerates several extraordinary blunders[23] and then concludes with a +rather inconsistent parting thrust at Bode, the perpetrator of such +nonsense, at the critics who could overlook such errors and praise the +work inordinately, and at the public who ventured to speak with delight +of the work, knowing it only in such a rendering. Benzler was severely +taken to task in the _Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[24] for his +shamelessness in rewriting Bode’s translation with such comparatively +insignificant alterations, for printing on the title page in brazen +effrontery “newly translated into German,” and for berating Bode for his +failure after cursing him with condescension. Passages are cited to +demonstrate the comparative triviality of Benzler’s work. A brief +comparison of the two translations shows that Benzler often translates +more correctly than his predecessor, but still more often makes +meaningless alterations in word-order, or in trifling words where +nothing is to be gained by such a change. + +The same year Benzler issued a similar revision of the Sentimental +Journey,[25] printing again on the title page “newly translated into +German.” The _Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[26] greets this +attempt with a similar tart review, containing parallel quotations as +before, proving Benzler’s inconsiderate presumption. Here Benzler had to +face Bode’s assertion that both Lessing and Ebert had assisted in the +work, and that the former had in his kindness gone through the whole +book. Benzler treats this fact rather cavalierly and renews his attack +on Bode’s rendering. Benzler resented this review and replied to it in a +later number of the same periodical.[27] + +Now that a century and more has elapsed, and personal acrimony can no +longer play any part in criticism, one may justly admit Benzler’s +service in calling attention to inaccurate and inadequate translation, +at the same time one must condemn utterly his manner of issuing his +emendations. In 1831 there appeared a translation of Tristram Shandy +which was again but a revision of Bode’s work. It bore on the title page +“Neu übertragen von W. H.,” and contained a sketch of Sterne’s life.[28] + +In the nineties there seemed to be a renewal of Yorick enthusiasm, and +at this time was brought forth, at Halle in 1794, a profusely annotated +edition of the Sentimental Journey,[29] which was, according to the +anonymous editor, a book not to be read, but to be studied. Claim is +made that the real meaning of the book may be discovered only after +several careful readings, that “empfindsam” in some measure was here +used in the sense of philosophical, that the book should be treated as a +work of philosophy, though clad in pleasing garb; that it should be +thought out according to its merits, not merely read. Yorick’s failure +to supply his chapters with any significant or alluring chapter-headings +(probably the result of indolence on his part) is here interpreted as +extraordinary sagacity, for he thereby lessens the expectations and +heightens the effect. “Eine Empfindungs-reise” is declared to be a more +suitable name than “Empfindsame Reise,” and comment is made upon the +purpose of the Journey, the gathering of material for anatomical study +of the human heart. The notes are numerous and lengthy, constituting a +quarter to a third of the book, but are replete with padding, pointless +babble and occasional puerile inaccuracies. They are largely attempts to +explain and to moralize upon Yorick’s emotions,--a verbose, childish, +witless commentary. The Wortregister contains fourteen pages in double +columns of explanations, in general differing very little from the kind +of information given in the notes. The _Allgemeine Litteratur +Zeitung_[30] devotes a long review chiefly to the explanation of the +errors in this volume, not the least striking of which is the +explanation of the reference to Smelfungus, whom everyone knows to have +been Smollett: “This learned Smelfungus appears to have written nothing +but the Journey which is here mentioned.”[31] As an explanation of the +initial “H” used by Sterne for Hume, the note is given, “The author ‘H’ +was perhaps a poor one.”[32] + +Sterne’s letters were issued first in London in 1775, a rather +surprisingly long time after his death, when one considers how great was +Yorick’s following. According to the prefatory note of Lydia Sterne de +Medalle in the collection which she edited and published, it was the +wish of Mrs. Sterne that the correspondence of her husband, which was in +her possession, be not given to the world, unless other letters bearing +his name should be published. This hesitation on her part must be +interpreted in such a way as to cast a favorable light on this much +maligned gentlewoman, as a delicate reticence on her part, a desire to +retain these personal documents for herself.[33] The power of this +sentiment must be measured by her refraining from publishing during the +five years which intervened between her husband’s death and her own, +March, 1768 to January, 1773--years which were embittered by the +distress of straitened circumstances. It will be remembered that an +effort was made by Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to retrieve their +fortunes by a life of Sterne which was to be a collaboration by +Stevenson and Wilkes, and urgent indeed was Lydia Sterne’s appeal to +these friends of her father to fulfill their promises and lend their +aid. Even when this hope had to be abandoned early in 1770, through the +faithlessness of Sterne’s erstwhile companions, the widow and daughter +turned to other possibilities rather than to the correspondence, though +in the latter lay a more assured means of accomplishing a temporary +revival of their prosperity. This is an evidence of fine feeling on the +part of Sterne’s widow, with which she has never been duly credited. + +But an anonymous editor published early in 1775[34] a volume entitled +“Letters from Yorick to Eliza,” a brief little collection, the source of +which has never been clear, but whose genuineness has never been +questioned. The editor himself waives all claim to proof “which might be +drawn concerning their authenticity from the character of the gentleman +who had the perusal of them, and with Eliza’s permission, faithfully +copied them at Bombay.” + +In July of this same year[35] was published a volume entitled “Sterne’s +Letters to His Friends on Various Occasions, to which is added his +History of a Watchcoat with Explanatory Notes,” containing twelve +letters (one by Dr. Eustace) and the watchcoat story. Some of these +letters had appeared previously in British magazines, and one, copied +from the _London Magazine_, was translated in the _Wandsbecker Bothe_ +for April 16, 1774.[36] A translation of the same letter was given in +the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1774, pp. 286-7. Three of these +letters only are accepted by Prof. Saintsbury (Nos. 7, 124, the letter +of Dr. Eustace, and 125). Of the others, Nos. 4-11 have been judged as +of doubtful authenticity. Two of them, Nos. 11 and 12 (“I beheld her +tender look” and “I feel the weight of obligation”) are in the standard +ten-volume edition of Sterne,[37] but the last letter is probably +spurious also. + +The publication of the letters from Yorick to Eliza was the +justification afforded Lydia Sterne de Medalle for issuing her father’s +correspondence according to her mother’s request: the other volume was +not issued till after it was known that Sterne’s daughter was engaged in +the task of collecting and editing his correspondence. Indeed, the +editor expressly states in his preface that it is not the purpose of the +book to forestall Mme. Medalle’s promised collection; that the letters +in this volume are not to be printed in hers.[38] Mme. Medalle added to +her collection the “Fragment in the manner of Rabelais” and the +invaluable, characteristic scrap of autobiography, which was written +particularly for “my Lydia.” The work appeared at Becket’s in three +volumes, and the dedication to Garrick was dated June, 1775; but, as the +notice in the _Monthly Review_ for October[39] asserts that they have +“been published but a few days,” this date probably represents the time +of the completion of the task, or the inception of the printer’s +work.[40] During the same year the spurious letters from Eliza to Yorick +were issued. + +Naturally Sterne’s letters found readers in Germany, the Yorick-Eliza +correspondence being especially calculated to awaken response.[41] The +English edition of the “Letters from Yorick to Eliza” was reviewed in +the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_,[42] with a hint that +the warmth of the letters might easily lead to a suspicion of unseemly +relationship, but the reviewer contends that virtue and rectitude are +preserved in the midst of such extraordinary tenderness, so that one may +interpret it as a Platonic rather than a sensual affection. Yet this +review cannot be designated as distinctive of German opinion, for it +contains no opinion not directly to be derived from the editor’s +foreword, and that alone; indeed, the wording suggests decidedly that +source. The _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_[43] for April 15, 1775, +reviews the same English edition, but the notice consists of an +introductory statement of Eliza’s identity and translation of parts of +three letters, the “Lord Bathurst letter,” the letter involving the +criticism of Eliza’s portraits,[44] and the last letter to Eliza. The +translation is very weak, abounding in elementary errors; for example, +“She has got your picture and likes it” becomes “Sie hat Ihr Bildniss +gemacht, es ist ähnlich,” and “I beheld you . . . as a very plain woman” +is rendered “und hielt Sie für nichts anders als eine Frau.” The same +journal,[45] August 5, reviews the second collection of Sterne’s +letters, but there is no criticism, merely an introductory statement +taken from the preface, and the translation of two letters, the one to +Mistress V., “Of two bad cassocs, fair lady,” and the epistle beginning, +“I snatch half an hour while my dinner is getting ready.” The +_Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen_, 1776, p. 382, also gives in a review +information concerning this anonymous collection, but no criticism. + +One would naturally look to Hamburg for translations of these epistles. +In the very year of their appearance in England we find “Yorick’s Briefe +an Eliza,” Hamburg, bey C. E. Bohn, 1775;[46] “Briefe von Eliza an +Yorick,” Hamburg, bey Bode, 1775; and “Briefe von (Yorick) Sterne an +seine Freunde nebst seiner Geschichte eines Ueberrocks,” Hamburg, bey +Bohn, 1775. The translator’s name is not given, but there is every +reason to suppose that it was the faithful Bode, though only the first +volume is mentioned in Jördens’ account of him, and under his name in +Goedeke’s “Grundriss.” Contemporary reviewers attributed all three books +to Bode, and internal evidence goes to prove it.[47] + +The first volume contains no translator’s preface, and the second, the +spurious Eliza letters, only a brief footnote to the translation of the +English preface. In this note Bode’s identity is evident in the +following quotation: He says he has translated the letters “because I +believe that they will be read with pleasure, and because I fancy I have +a kind of vocation to give in German everything that Sterne has written, +or whatever has immediate relation to his writings.” This note is dated +Hamburg, September 16, 1775. In the third volume, the miscellaneous +collection, there is a translator’s preface in which again Bode’s hand +is evident. He says he knows by sure experience that Sterne’s writings +find readers in Germany; he is assured of the authenticity of the +letters, but is in doubt whether the reader is possessed of sufficient +knowledge of the attending circumstances to render intelligible the +allusion of the watchcoat story. To forfend the possibility of such +dubious appreciation, the account of the watchcoat episode is copied +word for word from Bode’s introduction to the “Empfindsame Reise.”[48] + +In this same year, an unknown translator issued in a single volume a +rendering of these three collections.[49] The following year Mme. +Medalle’s collection was brought out in Leipzig in an anonymous +translation, which has been attributed to Christian Felix Weisse.[50] +Its title was “Lorenz Sterne’s Briefe an seine vertrautesten Freunde +nebst einem Fragment im Geschmack des Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst +verfassten Nachricht von seinem Leben und seiner Familie, herausgegeben +von seiner Tochter Mad. Medalle,” Leipzig, 1776, pp. xxviii, 391. +Weidmanns Erben und Reich. + +Bode’s translation of Yorick’s letters to Eliza is reviewed in the +_Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_, August 9, 1775, with quotation of the +second letter in full. The same journal notes the translation of the +miscellaneous collection, November 4, 1775, giving in full the letter of +Dr. Eustace and Sterne’s reply.[51] The _Allgemeine deutsche +Bibliothek_[52] reviews together the three Hamburg volumes (Bode) and +the Leipzig volume containing the same letters. The utter innocence, the +unquestionably Platonic character of the relations between Yorick and +Eliza is accepted fully. With keen, critical judgment the reviewer is +inclined to doubt the originality of the Eliza letters. Two letters by +Yorick are mentioned particularly, letters which bear testimony to +Yorick’s practical benevolence: one describing his efforts in behalf of +a dishonored maiden, and one concerning the old man who fell into +financial difficulties.[53] Both the translations win approval, but +Bode’s is preferred; they are designated as doubtless his. The “Briefe +an Elisa” (Bode’s translation) are noticed in the _Frankfurter Gelehrte +Anzeigen_, October 3 and 6, 1775, with unrestrained praise of the +translator, and vigorous asseveration of their authenticity. It is +recognized fully that the relation as disclosed was extraordinary among +married people, even Sterne’s amazing statement concerning the fragile +obstacles which stood in the way of their desires is noted. Yet the +Yorick of these letters is accorded undisguised admiration. His love is +exalted above that of Swift for Stella, Waller for Sacharissa, Scarron +for Maintenon,[54] and his godly fear as here exhibited is cited to +offset the outspoken avowal of dishonoring desire.[55] Hamann in a +letter to Herder, June 26, 1780, speaks of the Yorick-Eliza +correspondence quite disparagingly.[56] + +In 1787 another volume of Sterne letters was issued in London, giving +English and German on opposite pages.[57] There are but six letters and +all are probably spurious. + +In 1780 there was published a volume of confessedly spurious letters +entitled “Briefe von Yorick und Elisen, wie sie zwischen ihnen konnten +geschrieben werden.”[58] The introduction contains some interesting +information for the determination of the genuineness of the Sterne +letters.[59] The editor states that the author had written these letters +purely as a diversion, that the editor had proposed their publication, +but was always met with refusal until there appeared in London a little +volume of letters which their editor emphatically declared to be +genuine. This is evidently the volume published by the anonymous editor +in 1775, and our present editor declares that he knows Nos. 4-10 were +from the same pen as the present confessedly spurious collection. They +were mere efforts originally, but, published in provincial papers, found +their way into other journals, and the editor goes on to say, that, +to his astonishment, he saw one of these epistles included in Lydia +Medalle’s collection. This is, of course, No. 5, the one beginning, “The +first time I have dipped my pen in the ink-horn.” These events induced +the author to allow the publication. The book itself consists mostly of +a kind of diary kept by Yorick to send to Eliza at Madeira and later to +India, and a corresponding journal written by Eliza on the vessel and at +Madeira. + +Yorick’s sermons were inevitably less potent in their appeal, and the +editions and translations were less numerous. In spite of obvious +effort, Sterne was unable to infuse into his homiletical discourses any +considerable measure of genuine Shandeism, and his sermons were never as +widely popular as his two novels, either among those who sought him for +whimsical pastime or for sentimental emotion. They were sermons. The +early Swiss translation has been duly noted. + +The third volume of the Zürich edition, which appeared in 1769, +contained the “Reden an Esel,” which the reviewer in the _Allgemeine +deutsche Bibliothek_[60] with acute penetration designates as spurious. +Another translation of these sermons was published at Leipzig, according +to the editor of a later edition[61] (Thorn, 1795), in the same year as +the Zürich issue, 1769. + +The _Berlinische Monatsschrift_[62] calls attention to the excellence of +the work and quotes the sermons at considerable length. The comment +contains the erroneous statement that Sterne was a dissenter, and +opposed to the established church. The translation published at Thorn in +1795, evidently building on this information, continues the error, and, +in explanation of English church affairs, adds as enlightenment the +thirty-nine articles. This translation is confessedly a working-over of +the Leipzig translation already mentioned. It is difficult to discover +how these sermons ever became attached to Sterne’s name, and one can +hardly explain the fact that such a magazine as the _Berlinische +Monatsschrift_[63] should at that late date publish an article so flatly +contradictory to everything for which Sterne stood, so diametrically +opposed to his career, save with the understanding that gross ignorance +attended the original introduction and early imitation of Yorick, and +that this incomprehension, or one-sided appreciation of the real Sterne +persisted in succeeding decades. The German Yorick was the champion of +the oppressed and downtrodden. The author of the “Sermons to Asses” +appeared as such an opponent of coercion and arbitrary power in church +and state, an upholder of human rights; hence, possibly, the authorship +of this book was attributed to Sterne by something the same process as +that which, in the age of heroic deeds, associated a miscellaneous +collection of performances with a popular hero. The “Sermons to Asses” +were written by Rev. James Murray (1732-1782), a noted dissenting +minister, long pastor of High Bridge Chapel in Newcastle-on-Tyne. They +were published in London in 1768 and dedicated to G. W., J. W., W. R. +and M. M.--George Whitfield, John Wesley, William Romaine and Martin +Madan. The English people are represented as burden-bearing asses laden +with oppression in the shape of taxes and creeds.[64] They are directed +against the power of the established church. It is needless to state +that England never associated these sermons with Sterne.[65] The +English edition was also briefly reviewed in the _Hamburgische +Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_[66] without connecting the work with +Sterne. The error was made later, possibly by the translator of the +Zürich edition. + +The new collection of Sterne’s sermons published by Cadell in 1769, +Vols. V, VI, VII, is reviewed by _Unterhaltungen_.[67] A selection from +Sterne’s sermon on the Prodigal Son was published in translation in the +_Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ for April 13, 1768. The new +collection of sermons was translated by A. E. Klausing and published at +Leipzig in 1770, containing eighteen sermons.[68] + +Both during Sterne’s life and after his death books were published +claiming him as their author. In England contemporary criticism +generally stigmatized these impertinent attempts as dubious, or +undoubtedly fraudulent. The spurious ninth volume of Shandy has been +mentioned.[69] The “Sermons to Asses” just mentioned also belong here, +and, with reservation, also Stevenson’s continuation of the Sentimental +Journey, with its claim to recognition through the continuator’s +statement of his relation to Yorick. There remain also a few other books +which need to be mentioned because they were translated into German and +played their part there in shaping the German idea of Yorick. In +general, it may be said that German criticism was never acute in judging +these products, partially perhaps because they were viewed through the +medium of an imperfectly mastered foreign tongue, a mediocre or an +adapted translation. These books obtained relatively a much more +extensive recognition in Germany than in England. + +In 1769 a curious conglomerate was brought over and issued under the +lengthy descriptive title: “Yoricks Betrachtungen über verschiedene +wichtige und angenehme Gegenstände. Nemlich über Nichts, Ueber Etwas, +Ueber das Ding, Ueber die Regierung, Ueber den Toback, Ueber die Nasen, +Ueber die Quaksalber, Ueber die Hebammen, Ueber den Homunculus, Ueber +die Steckenpferde, Ueber das Momusglas, Ueber die Ausschweifungen, Ueber +die Dunkelkeit im Schreiben, Ueber den Unsinn, Ueber die Verbindung der +Ideen, Ueber die Hahnreiter, Ueber den Mann in dem Monde, Ueber +Leibnitzens Monaden, Ueber das was man Vertu nennt, Ueber das Gewissen, +Ueber die Trunkenheit, Ueber den Nachtstuhl, Betrachtungen über +Betrachtungen.--neque--cum lectulus, aut me Porticus excepit, desum +mihi, Horat.” Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1769, 8vo. The book purported to be +a collection of Sterne’s earliest lucubrations, and the translator +expresses his astonishment that no one had ever translated them before, +although they were first issued in 1760. It is without doubt the +translation of an English volume entitled “Yorick’s Meditations upon +interesting and important subjects,” published by Stevens in London, +1760.[70] It had been forgotten in England long before some German +chanced upon it. The preface closes with a long doggerel rhyme, which, +the translator says, he has purposely left untranslated. It is, however, +beyond the shadow of a doubt original with him, as its contents prove. +Yorick in the Elysian Fields is supposed to address himself, he +“anticipates his fate and perceives beforehand that at least one German +critic would deem him worthy of his applause.” + + “Go on, poor Yorik, try once more + In German Dress, thy fate of yore, + Expect few Critics, such, as by + The bucket of Philosophy + From out the bottom of the well + May draw the Sense of what you tell + And spy what wit and Morals sound + Are in thy Rambles to be found.” + +After a passage in which the rhymester enlarges upon the probability of +distorted judgment, he closes with these lines: + + “Dire Fate! but for all that no worse, + You shall be WIELAND’S Hobby-Horse, + So to HIS candid Name, unbrib’d + These meditations be inscrib’d.” + +This was at the time of Wieland’s early enthusiasm, when he was probably +contemplating, if not actually engaged upon a translation of Tristram +Shandy. “Thy fate of yore” in the second line is evidently a poetaster’s +acceptation of an obvious rhyme and does not set Yorick’s German +experience appreciably into the past. The translator supplies frequent +footnotes explaining the allusions to things specifically English. He +makes occasional comparison with German conditions, always with the +claim that Germany is better off, and needs no such satire. The +_Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitungen_ for June 1, 1769, devotes a review +of considerable length to this translation; in it the reviewer asserts +that one would have recognized the father of this creation even if +Yorick’s name had not stood on its forehead; that it closely resembles +its fellows even if one must place it a degree below the Journey. The +_Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek_[71] throws no direct suspicion on the +authenticity, but with customary insight and sanity of criticism finds +in this early work “a great deal that is insipid and affected.” The +_Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, however, in a review +which shows a keen appreciation of Sterne’s style, openly avows an +inclination to question the authenticity, save for the express statement +of the translator; the latter it agrees to trust.[72] The book is placed +far below the Sentimental Journey, below Shandy also, but far above the +artificial tone of many other writers then popular. This relative +ordering of Sterne’s works is characteristic of German criticism. In the +latter part of the review its author seizes on a mannerism, the +exaggerated use of which emphatically sunders the book from the genuine +Sterne, the monotonous repetition of the critic’s protests and Yorick’s +verbal conflicts with them. Sterne himself used this device frequently, +but guardedly, and in ever-changing variety. Its careless use betrays +the mediocre imitator.[73] + +The more famous Koran was also brought to German territory and enjoyed +there a recognition entirely beyond that accorded it in England. This +book was first given to the world in London as the “Posthumous Works of +a late celebrated Genius deceased;”[74] a work in three parts, bearing +the further title, “The Koran, or the Life, Character and Sentiments of +Tria Juncta in Uno, M. N. A., Master of No Arts.” Richard Griffith was +probably the real author, but it was included in the first collected +edition of Sterne’s works, published in Dublin, 1779.[75] The work +purports to be, in part, an autobiography of Sterne, in which the late +writer lays bare the secrets of his life, his early debauchery, his +father’s unworthiness, his profligate uncle, the ecclesiastic, and the +beginning of his literary career by advertising for hack work in London, +being in all a confused mass of impossible detail, loose notes and +disconnected opinion, which contemporary English reviews stigmatize as +manifestly spurious, “an infamous attempt to palm the united effusions +of dullness and indecency upon the world as the genuine production of +the late Mr. Sterne.”[76] + +In France the book was accepted as genuine and it was translated (1853) +by Alfred Hédouin as an authentic work of Sterne. In Germany, too, +it seems to have been recognized with little questioning as to its +genuineness; even in recent years Robert Springer, in an article +treating of Goethe’s relation to the Koran, quite openly contends for +its authenticity.[77] + +Since a German translation appeared in the following year (1771), the +German reviews do not, in the main, concern themselves with the English +original. The _Neues Bremisches Magazin_,[78] however, censures the book +quite severely, but the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[79] +welcomes it with unquestioning praise. The German rendering was by +Johann Gottfried Gellius, and the title was “Yorick’s Nachgelassene +Werke.”[80] The _Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[81] +does acknowledge the doubtful authorship but accepts completely its +Yorick tone and whim--“one cannot tell the copyist from the original.” +Various characteristics are cited as common to this work and Yorick’s +other writings, the contrast, change, confusion, conflict with the +critics and the talk about himself. For the collection of aphorisms, +sayings, fragments and maxims which form the second part of the Koran, +including the “Memorabilia,” the reviewer suggests the name “Sterniana.” +The reviewer acknowledges the occasional failure in attempted thrusts of +wit, the ineffective satire, the immoral innuendo in some passages, +but after the first word of doubt the review passes on into a tone of +seemingly complete acceptation. + +In 1778 another translation of this book appeared, which has been +ascribed to Bode, though not given by Goedeke, Jördens or Meusel. +Its title was “Der Koran, oder Leben und Meynungen des Tria Juncta in +Uno.”[82] The _Almanach der deutschen Musen_[83] treats this work with +full measure of praise. The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[84] accepts +the book in this translation as a genuine product of Sterne’s genius. +Sammer reprinted the “Koran” (Vienna, 1795, 12mo) and included it in his +nine volume edition of Sterne’s complete works (Vienna, 1798). + +Goethe’s connection with the “Koran,” which forms the most interesting +phase of its German career, will be treated later. + +Sterne’s unacknowledged borrowings, his high-handed and extensive +appropriation of work not his own, were noted in Germany, the natural +result of Ferriar’s investigations in England, but they seem never to +have attracted any considerable attention or aroused any serious concern +among Sterne’s admirers so as to imperil his position: the question in +England attached itself as an ungrateful but unavoidable concomitant of +every discussion of Sterne and every attempt to determine his place in +letters. Böttiger tells us that Lessing possessed a copy of Burton’s +“Anatomy of Melancholy,” from which Sterne filched so much wisdom, and +that Lessing had marked in it several of the passages which Ferriar +later advanced as proof of Sterne’s theft. It seems that Bode purchased +this volume at Lessing’s auction in Hamburg. Lessing evidently thought +it not worth while to mention these discoveries, as he is entirely +silent on the subject. Böttiger is, in his account, most unwarrantedly +severe on Ferriar, whom he calls “the bilious Englishman” who attacked +Sterne “with so much bitterness.” This is very far from a veracious +conception of Ferriar’s attitude. + +The comparative indifference in Germany to this phase of Sterne’s +literary career may well be attributed to the medium by which Ferriar’s +findings were communicated to cultured Germany. The book itself, or the +original Manchester society papers, seem never to have been reprinted or +translated, and Germany learned their contents through a _résumé_ +written by Friedrich Nicolai and published in the _Berlinische +Monatsschrift_ for February, 1795, which gives a very sane view of the +subject, one in the main distinctly favorable to Sterne. Nicolai says +Sterne is called with justice “One of the most refined, ingenious and +humorous authors of our time.” He asserts with capable judgment that +Sterne’s use of the borrowed passages, the additions and alterations, +the individual tone which he manages to infuse into them, all preclude +Sterne from being set down as a brainless copyist. Nicolai’s attitude +may be best illustrated by the following passages: + +“Germany has authors enough who resemble Sterne in lack of learning. +Would that they had a hundredth part of the merits by which he made up +for this lack, or rather which resulted from it.” “We would gladly allow +our writers to take their material from old books, and even many +expressions and turns of style, and indeed whole passages, even if like +Sterne . . . . they claimed it all as their own: only they must be +successful adapters; they must add from their own store of observation +and thought and feeling. The creator of Tristram Shandy does this in +rich measure.” + +Nicolai also contends that Sterne was gifted with two characteristic +qualities which were not imitation,--his “Empfindsamkeit” and +“Laune”--and that by the former his works breathe a tender, delicate +beneficence, a character of noble humanity, while by the latter a spirit +of fairest mirth is spread over his pages, so that one may never open +them without a pleasant smile. “The investigation of sources,” he says, +“serves as explanation and does not mean depreciation of an otherwise +estimable author.” + +By this article Nicolai choked the malicious criticism of the late +favorite which might have followed from some sources, had another +communicated the facts of Sterne’s thievery. Lichtenberg in the +“Göttingischer Taschenkalender,” 1796, that is, after the publication of +Nicolai’s article, but with reference to Ferriar’s essay in the +Manchester Memoirs, Vol. IV, under the title of “Gelehrte Diebstähle” +does impugn Sterne rather spitefully without any acknowledgment of his +extraordinary and extenuating use of his borrowings. “Yorick,” he says, +“once plucked a nettle which had grown upon Lorenzo’s grave; that was no +labor for him. Who will uproot this plant which Ferriar has set on his?” +Ferriar’s book was reviewed by the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen +Wissenschaften_, LXII, p. 310. + +Some of the English imitations of Sterne, which did not actually claim +him as author, also found their way to Germany, and there by a less +discriminating public were joined in a general way to the mass of Yorick +production, and the might of Yorick influence. These works represent +almost exclusively the Sterne of the Sentimental Journey; for the shoal +of petty imitations, explanations and protests which appeared in England +when Shandy was first issued[85] had gone their own petty way to +oblivion before Germany awakened to Sterne’s influence. + +One of the best known of the English Sentimental Journeys was the work +of Samuel Paterson, entitled, “Another Traveller: or Cursory Remarks and +Critical Observations made upon a Journey through Part of the +Netherlands,--by Coriat Junior,” London, 1768, two volumes. The author +protested in a pamphlet published a little later that his work was not +an imitation of Sterne, that it was in the press before Yorick’s book +appeared; but a reviewer[86] calls his attention to the sentimental +journeying already published in Shandy. This work was translated into +German as “Empfindsame Reisen durch einen Theil der Niederlande,” +Bützow, 1774-1775, 2 Parts, 8vo. The translator was Karl Friedrich +Müchler, who showed his bent in the direction of wit and whim by the +publication of several collections of humorous anecdotes, witty ideas +and satirical skits.[87] + +Much later a similar product was published, entitled “Launige Reise +durch Holland in Yoricks[88] Manier, mit Charakterskizzen und Anekdoten +über die Sitten und Gebräuche der Holländer aus dem Englischen,” two +volumes, Zittau und Leipzig, 1795. The translation was by Reichel in +Zittau.[88] This may possibly be Ireland’s “A Picturesque Tour through +Holland, Brabant and part of France, made in 1789,” two volumes, London, +1790.[89] The well-known “Peter Pennyless” was reproduced as +“Empfindsame Gedanken bey verschiedenen Vorfällen von Peter Pennyless,” +Leipzig, Weidmann, 1770. + +In 1788 there appeared in England a continuation of the Sentimental +Journey[90] in which, to judge from the reviewers, the petty author +outdid Sterne in eccentricities of typography, breaks, dashes, scantily +filled and blank pages. This is evidently the original of “Die neue +empfindsame Reise in Yoriks Geschmack,” Leipzig, 1789, 8vo, pp. 168, +which, according to the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ bristles with +such extravagances.[91] + +A much more successful attempt was the “Sentimental Journey, Intended as +a Sequel to Mr. Sterne’s, Through Italy, Switzerland and France, by Mr. +Shandy,” two volumes, 12mo, 1793. This was evidently the original of +Schink’s work;[92] “Empfindsame Reisen durch Italien, die Schweiz und +Frankreich, ein Nachtrag zu den Yorikschen. Aus und nach dem +Englischen,” Hamburg, Hoffmann, 1794, pp. 272, 8vo. The translator’s +preface, which is dated Hamburg, March 1794, explains his attitude +toward the work as suggested in the expression “Aus und nach dem +Englischen,” that is, “aus, so lange wie Treue für den Leser Gewinn +schien und nach, wenn Abweichung für die deutsche Darstellung notwendig +war.” He claims to have softened the glaring colors of the original and +to have discarded, or altered the obscene pictures. The author, as +described in the preface, is an illegitimate son of Yorick, named +Shandy, who writes the narrative as his father would have written it, +if he had lived. This assumed authorship proves quite satisfactorily its +connection with the English original, as there, too, in the preface, the +narrator is designated as a base-born son of Yorick. The book is, as a +whole, a fairly successful imitation of Yorick’s manner, and it must be +judged as decidedly superior to Stevenson’s attempt. The author takes up +the story where Sterne left it, in the tavern room with the Piedmontese +lady; and the narrative which follows is replete with allusions to +familiar episodes and sentiments in the real Journey, with sentimental +adventures and opportunities for kindly deeds, and sympathetic tears; +motifs used originally are introduced here, a begging priest with a +snuff-box, a confusion with the Yorick in Hamlet, a poor girl with +wandering mind seated by the wayside, and others equally familiar. + +It is not possible to determine the extent of Schink’s alterations to +suit German taste, but one could easily believe that the somewhat +lengthy descriptions of external nature, quite foreign to Sterne, were +original with him, and that the episode of the young German lady by the +lake of Geneva, with her fevered admiration for Yorick, and the +compliments to the German nation and the praise for great Germans, +Luther, Leibnitz and Frederick the Great, are to be ascribed to the same +source. He did not rid the book of revolting features, as one might +suppose from his preface.[93] Previous to the publication of the whole +translation, Schink published in the February number of the _Deutsche +Monatsschrift_[94] two sections of his book, “Die Schöne +Obstverkäuferin” and “Elisa.” Later, in the May number, he published +three other fragments, “Turin, Hotel del Ponto,” “Die Verlegenheit,” +“Die Unterredung.”[95] + +A few years later Schink published another and very similar volume with +the title, “Launen, Phantasieen und Schilderungen aus dem Tagebuche +eines reisenden Engländers,”[96] Arnstadt und Rudolstadt, 1801, pp. 323. +It has not been possible to find an English original, but the translator +makes claim upon one, though confessing alterations to suit his German +readers, and there is sufficient internal evidence to point to a real +English source. The traveler is a haggard, pale-faced English clergyman, +who, with his French servant, La Pierre, has wandered in France and +Italy and is now bound for Margate. Here again we have sentimental +episodes, one with a fair lady in a post-chaise, another with a monk in +a Trappist cloister, apostrophes to the imagination, the sea, and +nature, a new division of travelers, a debate of personal attributes, +constant appeals to his dear Sophie, who is, like Eliza, ever in the +background, occasional references to objects made familiar through +Yorick, as Dessein’s Hotel, and a Yorick-like sympathy with the dumb +beast; in short, an open imitation of Sterne, but the motifs from Sterne +are here more mixed and less obvious. There is, as in the former book, +much more enthusiasm for nature than is characteristic of Sterne; and +there is here much more miscellaneous material, such, for example, +as the tale of the two sisters, which betrays no trace of Sterne’s +influence. The latter part of the volume is much less reminiscent of +Yorick and suggests interpolation by the translator.[97] + +Near the close of the century was published “Fragments in the manner of +Sterne,” 8vo, Debrett, 1797, which, according to the _Monthly +Review_,[98] caught in large measure the sentimentality, pathos and +whimsicality of Sterne’s style. The British Museum catalogue suggests +J. Brandon as its author. This was reprinted by Nauck in Leipzig in +1800, and a translation was given to the world by the same publisher in +the same year, with the added title: “Ein Seitenstück zu Yoricks +empfindsamen Reisen.” The translation is attributed by Kayser to Aug. +Wilhelmi, the pseudonym of August Wilhelm Meyer.[99] Here too belongs +“Mariens Briefe nebst Nachricht von ihrem Tode, aus dem +Englischen,”[100] which was published also under the title: “Yoricks +Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien,” 5th vol., 8vo, +Weissenfels, Severin, Mitzky in Leipzig, 1795. + + + [Footnote 1: VI, 1, p. 166. 1768.] + + [Footnote 2: XII, 1, p. 142.] + + [Footnote 3: August 28, 1769. P. 574.] + + [Footnote 4: Pp. 896-9.] + + [Footnote 5: III, pp. 689-91, October 31, 1768.] + + [Footnote 6: V, No. 5, p. 37, 1769, review is signed “Z.”] + + [Footnote 7: 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7.] + + [Footnote 8: Greifswald, VI, p. 300.] + + [Footnote 9: See p. 42.] + + [Footnote 10: Anhang LIII-LXXXVI. Vol. V, pp. 2611-2614.] + + [Footnote 11: This is repeated by Jördens.] + + [Footnote 12: 1799. I, p. 36.] + + [Footnote 13: _Teut. Merkur_, VIII, pp. 247-251.] + + [Footnote 14: April 21, 1775, pp. 267-70.] + + [Footnote 15: Hirsching (see above) says it rivals the original.] + + [Footnote 16: The references to the _Deutsches Museum_ are + respectively IX, pp. 273-284, April, 1780, and X, pp. 553-5.] + + [Footnote 17: See Jördens I, p. 117, probably depending on the + critique in the _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ Anhang, LIII-LXXXVI, Vol. + V, pp. 2611-2614.] + + [Footnote 18: _Erholungen_ III, pp. 1-51.] + + [Footnote 19: Supplementband für 1790-93, p. 410.] + + [Footnote 20: Werke, Zürich, 1825-29, pp. 312 ff.] + + [Footnote 21: “Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meynungen von neuem + verdeutscht, Leipzig, 1801, I, pp. 572; II, pp. 532; III, pp. 430. + Mit 3 Kupfern und 3 Vignetten nach Chodowiecki von J. F. + Schröter.” A new edition appeared at Hahn’s in Hanover in 1810. + This translation is not given by Goedeke under Benzler’s name.] + + [Footnote 22: Wieland does modify his enthusiasm by acknowledgment + of inadequacies and devotes about a page of his long review to the + correction of seven incorrect renderings. _Teut. Merkur_, VIII, + pp. 247-51, 1774, IV.] + + [Footnote 23: The following may serve as examples of Bode’s + errors. He translated, “Pray, what was your father saying?” (I, 6) + by “Was wollte denn Ihr Vater damit sagen?” a rendering obviously + inadequate. “It was a little hard on her” (I, p. 52) becomes in + Bode, “Welches sie nun freilich schwer ablegen konnte;” and “Great + wits jump” (I, 168) is translated “grosse Meister fehlen auch.”] + + [Footnote 24: LXXIII, pp. 75-81.] + + [Footnote 25: Leipzig, 1801, 8vo, I, 168; II, 170. 2 Kupf. und 2 + Vignetten nach Chodowiecki von G. Böttiger.] + + [Footnote 26: LXXIX, pp. 371-377.] + + [Footnote 27: LXXXII, I, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 28: Magdeburg, I, pp. 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 154; + IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 236.] + + [Footnote 29: A Sentimental Journey, mit erläuternden Anmerkungen + und einem Wortregister.] + + [Footnote 30: Jena, 1795, II, pp. 427-30.] + + [Footnote 31: P. 49.] + + [Footnote 32: The edition is also reviewed in the _Erfurtische + Gelehrte Zeitung_ (1796, p. 294.)] + + [Footnote 33: The threat of Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to + publish the letters to Mrs. Draper would seem to be at variance + with this idea of Mrs. Sterne’s character, but her resentment or + indignation, and a personal satisfaction at her former rival’s + discomfiture are inevitable, and femininely human.] + + [Footnote 34: They are reviewed in the April number of the + _Monthly Review_ (LII, pp. 370-371), and in the April number of the + _London Magazine_ (XLIV, pp. 200-201).] + + [Footnote 35: It is noted among the publications in the July + number of the _London Magazine_, XLIV, p. 371, and is reviewed in + the September number of the _Monthly Review_, LIII, pp. 266-267. + It was really published on July 12. (_The Nation_, November 17, + 1904.)] + + [Footnote 36: The letter beginning “The first time I have dipped + my pen in the ink-horn,” addressed to Mrs. M-d-s and dated + Coxwould, July 21, 1765. The _London Magazine_ (1775, pp. 530-531) + also published the eleventh letter of the series, that concerning + the unfortunate Harriet: “I beheld her tender look.”] + + [Footnote 37: Dodsley, etc., 1793.] + + [Footnote 38: Two letters, however, were given in both volumes, + the letter to Mrs. M-d-s, “The first time I have dipped,” etc., + and that to Garrick, “’Twas for all the world like a cut,” etc., + being in the Mme. Medalle collection, Nos. 58 and 77 (II, pp. + 126-131, 188-192) and in the anonymous collection Nos. 1 and 5. + The first of these two letters was without indication of addressee + in the anonymous collection, and was later directed to Eugenius + (in the American edition, Harrisburg, 1805).] + + [Footnote 39: LIII, pp. 340-344. The publication was October 25. + See _The Nation_, November 17, 1904.] + + [Footnote 40: The _London Magazine_ gives the first announcement + among the books for October (Vol. XLVI, p. 538), but does not + review the collection till December (XLIV, p. 649).] + + [Footnote 41: Some selections from these letters were evidently + published before their translation in the _Englische Allgemeine + Bibliothek_. See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1775, p. 667.] + + [Footnote 42: XVIII, p. 177, 1775.] + + [Footnote 43: 1775, I, pp. 243-246.] + + [Footnote 44: Letters Nos. 83 and 86.] + + [Footnote 45: 1775, II p. 510.] + + [Footnote 46: This volume was noted by _Jenaische Zeitungen von + Gelehrten Sachen_, September, 4, 1775.] + + [Footnote 47: A writer in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog” says that + Bode’s own letters to “einige seiner vertrauten Freundinnen” in + some respects surpass those of Yorick to Eliza.] + + [Footnote 48: Another translator would in this case have made + direct acknowledgment to Bode for the borrowed information, a fact + indicating Bode as the translator of the volume.] + + [Footnote 49: “Lorenz Sterne’s oder Yorick’s Briefwechsel mit + Elisen und seinen übrigen Freunden.” Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und + Reich. 1775, 8vo.] + + [Footnote 50: Weisse is credited with the translation in Kayser, + but it is not given under his name in Goedeke.] + + [Footnote 51: References to the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung_ are + p. 518 and p. 721, 1775.] + + [Footnote 52: XXVIII, 2, p. 489, 1776.] + + [Footnote 53: These are, of course, the spurious letters Nos. 8 + and 11, “I beheld her tender look” and “I have not been a furlong + from Shandy-Hall.”] + + [Footnote 54: This is a quotation from one of the letters, but the + review repeats it as its own.] + + [Footnote 55: For a rather unfavorable criticism of the + Yorick-Eliza letters, see letter of Wilh. Ludw. Medicus to + Höpfner, March 16, 1776, in “Briefe aus dem Freundeskreise von + Goethe, Herder, Höpfner und Merck,” ed. by K. Wagner, Leipzig, + 1847.] + + [Footnote 56: Hamann’s Schriften, ed. by Roth, VI, p. 145: + “Yorick’s und Elisens Briefe sind nicht der Rede werth.”] + + [Footnote 57: London, Thomas Cornan, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 8vo, + pp. 63. These letters are given in the first American edition, + Harrisburg, 1805, pp. 209-218 and 222-226.] + + [Footnote 58: Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und Reich, I, pp. 142; + II, pp. 150.] + + [Footnote 59: The English original is probably that by William + Combe, published in 1779, two volumes. This original is reviewed + in the _Neue Bibl. der schönen Wissenschaften_, XXIV, p. 186, + 1780.] + + [Footnote 60: XII, 1, pp. 210-211. Doubt is also suggested in the + _Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1769, IV, p. 295.] + + [Footnote 61: Reviewed in _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1798, II, p. 14, + without suggestion of doubtful authenticity.] + + [Footnote 62: XX, pp. 79-103, 1792.] + + [Footnote 63: They are still credited to Sterne, though with + admitted doubt, in Hirsching (1809). It would seem from a letter + of Hamann’s that Germany also thrust another work upon Sterne. The + letter is directed to Herder: “Ich habe die nichtswürdige Grille + gehabt einen unförmlichen Auszug einer englischen Apologie des + Rousseau, die den Sterne zum Verfasser haben soll, in die + _Königsberger Zeitung_ einflicken zu lassen.” See Hamann’s + Schriften, Roth’s edition, III, p. 374. Letter is dated July 29, + 1767. Rousseau is mentioned in Shandy, III, p. 200, but there is + no reason to believe that he ever wrote anything about him.] + + [Footnote 64: The edition examined is that of William Howe, + London, 1819, which contains “New Sermons to Asses,” and other + sermons by Murray.] + + [Footnote 65: For reviews see _Monthly Review_, 1768, Vol. XXXIX, + pp. 100-105; _Gentleman’s Magazine_, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 188 (April). + They were thus evidently published early in the year 1768.] + + [Footnote 66: 1768, p. 220.] + + [Footnote 67: VII, p. 360.] + + [Footnote 68: Review in _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XIII, 1, p. 241. + The reviewer is inclined to doubt their authenticity.] + + [Footnote 69: A spurious third volume was the work of John Carr + (1760).] + + [Footnote 70: See _Monthly Review_, XXIII, p. 84, July 1760, and + _London Magazine_, Monthly Catalogue for July and August, 1760. + _Scott’s Magazine_, XXII, p. 389, July, 1760.] + + [Footnote 71: XIV, 2, p. 621.] + + [Footnote 72: But in a later review in the same periodical + (V, p. 726) this book, though not mentioned by name, yet clearly + meant, is mentioned with very decided expression of doubt. The + review quoted above is III, p. 737. 1769.] + + [Footnote 73: This work was republished in Braunschweig at the + Schulbuchhandlung in 1789.] + + [Footnote 74: According to the _Universal Magazine_ (XLVI, p. 111) + the book was issued in February, 1770. It was published in two + volumes.] + + [Footnote 75: Sidney Lee in Nat’l Dict. of Biography. It was also + given in the eighth volume of the Edinburgh edition of Sterne, + 1803.] + + [Footnote 76: See _London Magazine_, June, 1770, VI, p. 319; also + _Monthly Review_, XLII, pp. 360-363, May, 1770. The author of this + latter critique further proves the fraudulence by asserting that + allusion is made in the book to “facts and circumstances which did + not happen until Yorick was dead.”] + + [Footnote 77: It is obviously not the place here for a full + discussion of this question. Hédouin in the appendix of his “Life + of Goethe” (pp. 291 ff) urges the claims of the book and resents + Fitzgerald’s rather scornful characterization of the French + critics who received the work as Sterne’s (see Life of Sterne, + 1864, II, p. 429). Hédouin refers to Jules Janin (“Essai sur la + vie et les ouvrages de Sterne”) and Balzac (“Physiologie du + mariage,” Meditation xvii,) as citing from the work as genuine. + Barbey d’Aurevilly is, however, noted as contending in _la Patrie_ + against the authenticity. This is probably the article to be found + in his collection of Essays, “XIX Siècle, Les oeuvres et les + hommes,” Paris, 1890, pp. 73-93. Fitzgerald mentions Chasles among + French critics who accept the book. Springer is incorrect in his + assertion that the Koran appeared seven years after Sterne’s + death, but he is probably building on the incorrect statement in + the _Quarterly Review_ (XCIV, pp. 303 ff). Springer also asserts + erroneously that it was never published in Sterne’s collected + works. He is evidently disposed to make a case for the Koran and + finds really his chief proof in the fact that both Goethe and Jean + Paul accepted it unquestioningly. Bodmer quotes Sterne from the + Koran in a letter to Denis, April 4, 1771, “M. Denis Lit. + Nachlass,” ed. by Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, p. 120, and other German + authors have in a similar way made quotations from this work, + without questioning its authenticity.] + + [Footnote 78: III, p. 537, 1771.] + + [Footnote 79: X, p. 173.] + + [Footnote 80: Leipzig, Schwickert, 1771, pp. 326, 8vo.] + + [Footnote 81: V, p. 726.] + + [Footnote 82: Hamburg, Herold, 1778, pp. 248, 12mo.] + + [Footnote 83: 1779, p. 67.] + + [Footnote 84: Anhang to XXV-XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 768.] + + [Footnote 85: As products of the year 1760, one may note: + + Tristram Shandy at Ranelagh, 8vo, Dunstan. + + Tristram Shandy in a Reverie, 8vo, Williams. + + Explanatory Remarks upon the Life and Opinions of Tristram + Shandy, by Jeremiah Kunastrokins, 12mo, Cabe. + + A Genuine Letter from a Methodist Preacher in the Country to + Laurence Sterne, 8vo, Vandenberg. + + A Shandean essay on Human Passions, etc., by Caleb MacWhim, 4to, + Cooke. + + Yorick’s Meditations upon Interesting and Important Subjects. + + The Life and Opinions of Miss Sukey Shandy, Stevens. + + The Clockmaker’s Outcry Against Tristram Shandy, Burd. + + The Rake of Taste, or the Elegant Debauchee (another ape of the + Shandean style, according to _London Magazine_). + + A Supplement to the Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, by the + author of Yorick’s Meditations, 12mo.] + + [Footnote 86: _Monthly Review_, XL, p. 166.] + + [Footnote 87: “Der Reisegefährte,” Berlin, 1785-86. “Komus oder + der Freund des Scherzes und der Laune,” Berlin, 1806. “Museum des + Witzes der Laune und der Satyre,” Berlin, 1810. For reviews of + Coriat in German periodicals see _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, + 1774, p. 378; _Leipziger Musen-Almanach_, 1776, p. 85; _Almanach + der Deutschen Musen_, 1775, p. 84; _Unterhaltungen_, VII, p. 167.] + + [Footnote 88: See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1796, I, p. 256.] + + [Transcriber’s Note: + The first of the two footnote tags may be an error.] + + [Footnote 89: The identity could be proven or disproven by + comparison. There is a copy of the German work in the Leipzig + University Library. Ireland’s book is in the British Museum.] + + [Footnote 90: See the _English Review_, XIII, p. 69, 1789, and the + _Monthly Review_, LXXIX, p. 468, 1788.] + + [Footnote 91: _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1791, I, p. 197. A sample of + the author’s absurdity is given there in quotation.] + + [Footnote 92: Joh. Friedrich Schink, better known as a dramatist.] + + [Footnote 93: See the story of the gentlewoman from Thionville, + p. 250, and elsewhere.] + + [Footnote 94: The references to the _Deutsche Monatsschrift_ are + respectively, I, pp. 181-188, and II, pp. 65-71.] + + [Footnote 95: For review of Schink’s book see _Allg. Litt. + Zeitung_, 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7. Böttiger seems to think that + Schink’s work is but another working over of Stevenson’s + continuation.] + + [Footnote 96: It is not given by Goedeke or Meusel, but is given + among Schink’s works in “Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen,” Weimar, + 1835-1837, XIII, pp. 161-165.] + + [Footnote 97: In both these books the English author may perhaps + be responsible for some of the deviation from Sterne’s style.] + + [Footnote 98: CV, p. 271.] + + [Footnote 99: Kayser notes another translation, “Fragmente in + Yorick’s Manier, aus dem Eng., mit Kpf., 8vo.” London, 1800. It is + possibly identical with the one noted above. A second edition of + the original came out in 1798.] + + [Footnote 100: The original of this was published by Kearsley in + London, 1790, 12mo, a teary contribution to the story of Maria of + Moulines.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +STERNE’S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY + + +Thus in manifold ways Sterne was introduced into German life and +letters.[1] He stood as a figure of benignant humanity, of lavish +sympathy with every earthly affliction, he became a guide and mentor,[2] +an awakener and consoler, and probably more than all, a sanction for +emotional expression. Not only in literature, but in the conduct of life +was Yorick judged a preceptor. The most important attempt to turn +Yorick’s teachings to practical service in modifying conduct in human +relationships was the introduction and use of the so-called +“Lorenzodosen.” The considerable popularity of this remarkable conceit +is tangible evidence of Sterne’s influence in Germany and stands in +striking contrast to the wavering enthusiasm, vigorous denunciation and +half-hearted acknowledgment which marked Sterne’s career in England. +A century of criticism has disallowed Sterne’s claim as a prophet, but +unquestionably he received in Germany the honors which a foreign land +proverbially accords. + +To Johann Georg Jacobi, the author of the “Winterreise” and +“Sommerreise,” two well-known imitations of Sterne, the sentimental +world was indebted for this practical manner of expressing adherence to +a sentimental creed.[3] In the _Hamburgischer Correspondent_ he +published an open letter to Gleim, dated April 4, 1769, about the time +of the inception of the “Winterreise,” in which letter he relates at +considerable length the origin of the idea.[4] A few days before this +the author was reading to his brother, Fritz Jacobi, the philosopher, +novelist and friend of Goethe, and a number of ladies, from Sterne’s +Sentimental Journey the story of the poor Franciscan who begged alms of +Yorick. “We read,” says Jacobi, “how Yorick used this snuff-box to +invoke its former possessor’s gentle, patient spirit, and to keep his +own composed in the midst of life’s conflicts. The good Monk had died: +Yorick sat by his grave, took out the little snuff-box, plucked a few +nettles from the head of the grave, and wept. We looked at one another +in silence: each rejoiced to find tears in the others’ eyes; we honored +the death of the venerable old man Lorenzo and the good-hearted +Englishman. In our opinion, too, the Franciscan deserved more to be +canonized than all the saints of the calendar. Gentleness, contentedness +with the world, patience invincible, pardon for the errors of mankind, +these are the primary virtues he teaches his disciples.” The moment was +too precious not to be emphasized by something rememberable, perceptible +to the senses, and they all purchased for themselves horn snuff-boxes, +and had the words “Pater Lorenzo” written in golden letters on the +outside of the cover and “Yorick” within. Oath was taken for the sake of +Saint Lorenzo to give something to every Franciscan who might ask of +them, and further: “If anyone in our company should allow himself to be +carried away by anger, his friend holds out to him the snuff-box, and we +have too much feeling to withstand this reminder even in the greatest +violence of passion.” It is suggested also that the ladies, who use no +tobacco, should at least have such a snuff-box on their night-stands, +because to them belong in such a high degree those gentle feelings which +were to be associated with the article. + +This letter printed in the Hamburg paper was to explain the snuff-box, +which Jacobi had sent to Gleim a few days before, and the desire is also +expressed to spread the order. Hence others were sent to other friends. +Jacobi goes on to say: “Perhaps in the future, I may have the pleasure +of meeting a stranger here and there who will hand me the horn snuff-box +with its golden letters. I shall embrace him as intimately as one Free +Mason does another after the sign has been given. Oh! what a joy it +would be to me, if I could introduce so precious a custom among my +fellow-townsmen.” A reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[5] +sharply condemns Jacobi for his conceit in printing publicly a letter +meant for his friend or friends, and, to judge from the words with which +Jacobi accompanies the abridged form of the letter in the later editions +it would seem that Jacobi himself was later ashamed of the whole affair. +The idea, however, was warmly received, and among the teary, sentimental +enthusiasts the horn snuff-box soon became the fad. A few days after the +publication of this letter, Wittenberg,[6] the journalist in Hamburg, +writes to Jacobi (April 21) that many in Hamburg desire to possess these +snuff-boxes, and he adds: “A hundred or so are now being manufactured; +besides the name Lorenzo, the following legend is to appear on the +cover: Animae quales non candidiores terra tulit.” Wittenberg explains +that this Latin motto was a suggestion of his own, selfishly made, +for thereby he might win the opportunity of explaining it to the fair +ladies, and exacting kisses for the service. Wittenberg asserts that a +lady (Longo guesses a certain Johanna Friederike Behrens) was the first +to suggest the manufacture of the article at Hamburg. A second letter[7] +from Wittenberg to Jacobi four months later (August 21, 1769) announces +the sending of nine snuff-boxes to Jacobi, and the price is given as +one-half a reichsthaler. Jacobi himself says in his note to the later +edition that merchants made a speculation out of the fad, and that a +multitude of such boxes were sent out through all Germany, even to +Denmark and Livonia: “they were in every hand,” he says. Graf Solms had +such boxes made of tin with the name Jacobi inside. Both Martin and +Werner instance the request[8] of a Protestant vicar, Johann David Goll +in Trossingen, for a “Lorenzodose” with the promise to subscribe to the +oath of the order, and, though Protestant, to name the Catholic +Franciscan his brother. According to a spicy review[9] in the +_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[10] these snuff-boxes were sold in +Hamburg wrapped in a printed copy of Jacobi’s letter to Gleim, and the +reviewer adds, “like Grenough’s tooth-tincture in the directions for its +use.”[11] Nicolai in “Sebaldus Nothanker” refers to the Lorenzo cult +with evident ridicule.[12] + +There were other efforts to make Yorick’s example an efficient power of +beneficent brotherliness. Kaufmann attempted to found a Lorenzo order of +the horn snuff-box. Düntzer, in his study of Kaufmann,[13] states that +this was only an effort on Kaufmann’s part to embrace a timely +opportunity to make himself prominent. This endeavor was made according +to Düntzer, during Kaufmann’s residence in Strassburg, which the +investigator assigns to the years 1774-75. Leuchsenring,[14] the +eccentric sentimentalist, who for a time belonged to the Darmstadt +circle and whom Goethe satirized in “Pater Brey,” cherished also for a +time the idea of founding an order of “Empfindsamkeit.” + +In the literary remains of Johann Christ Hofmann[15] in Coburg was found +the “patent” of an order of “Sanftmuth und Versöhnung.” A “Lorenzodose” +was found with it marked XXVIII, and the seven rules of the order, dated +Coburg “im Ordens-Comtoir, den 10 August, 1769,” are merely a topical +enlargement and ordering of Jacobi’s original idea. Longo gives them in +full. Appell states that Jacobi explained through a friend that he knew +nothing of this order and had no share in its founding. Longo complains +that Appell does not give the source of his information, but Jacobi in +his note to the so-called “Stiftungs-Brief” in the edition of 1807 +quotes the article in Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog” as his only knowledge +of this order, certainly implying his previous ignorance of its +existence. + +Somewhat akin to these attempts to incorporate Yorick’s ideas is the +fantastic laying out of the park at Marienwerder near Hanover, of which +Matthison writes in his “Vaterländische Besuche,”[16] and in a letter to +the Hofrath von Köpken in Magdeburg,[17] dated October 17, 1785. After a +sympathetic description of the secluded park, he tells how labyrinthine +paths lead to an eminence “where the unprepared stranger is surprised by +the sight of a cemetery. On the crosses there one reads beloved names +from Yorick’s Journey and Tristram Shandy. Father Lorenzo, Eliza, Maria +of Moulines, Corporal Trim, Uncle Toby and Yorick were gathered by a +poetic fancy to this graveyard.” The letter gives a similar description +and adds the epitaph on Trim’s monument, “Weed his grave clean, ye men +of goodness, for he was your brother,”[18] a quotation, which in its +fuller form, Matthison uses in a letter[19] to Bonstetten, Heidelberg, +February 7, 1794, in speaking of Böck the actor. It is impossible to +determine whose eccentric and tasteless enthusiasm is represented by +this mortuary arrangement. + +Louise von Ziegler, known in the Darmstadt circle as Lila, whom Merck +admired and, according to Caroline Flaschsland, “almost compared with +Yorick’s Maria,” was so sentimental that she had her grave made in her +garden, evidently for purposes of contemplation, and she led a lamb +about which ate and drank with her. Upon the death of this animal, +“a faithful dog” took its place. Thus was Maria of Moulines +remembered.[20] + +It has already been noted that Yorick’s sympathy for the brute creation +found cordial response in Germany, such regard being accepted as a part +of his message. That the spread of such sentimental notions was not +confined to the printed word, but passed over into actual regulation of +conduct is admirably illustrated by an anecdote related in Wieland’s +_Teutscher Merkur_ in the January number for 1776, by a correspondent +who signs himself “S.” A friend was visiting him; they went to walk, and +the narrator having his gun with him shot with it two young doves. His +friend is exercised. “What have the doves done to you?” he queries. +“Nothing,” is the reply, “but they will taste good to you.” “But they +were alive,” interposed the friend, “and would have caressed +(geschnäbelt) one another,” and later he refuses to partake of the +doves. Connection with Yorick is established by the narrator himself: +“If my friend had not read Yorick’s story about the sparrow, he would +have had no rule of conduct here about shooting doves, and my doves +would have tasted better to him.” The influence of Yorick was, however, +quite possibly indirect through Jacobi as intermediary; for the latter +describes a sentimental family who refused to allow their doves to be +killed. The author of this letter, however, refers directly to Yorick, +to the very similar episode of the sparrows narrated in the continuation +of the Sentimental Journey, but an adventure original with the German +Bode. This is probably the source of Jacobi’s narrative. + +The other side of Yorick’s character, less comprehensible, less capable +of translation into tangibilities, was not disregarded. His humor and +whimsicality, though much less potent, were yet influential. Ramler said +in a letter to Gebler dated November 14, 1775, that everyone wished to +jest like Sterne,[21] and the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ (October +31, 1775), at almost precisely the same time, discourses at some length +on the then prevailing epidemic of whimsicality, showing that +shallowness beheld in the then existing interest in humor a +justification for all sorts of eccentric behavior and inconsistent +wilfulness. + +Naturally Sterne’s influence in the world of letters may be traced most +obviously in the slavish imitation of his style, his sentiment, his +whims,--this phase represented in general by now forgotten triflers; but +it also enters into the thought of the great minds in the fatherland and +becomes interwoven with their culture. Their own expressions of +indebtedness are here often available in assigning a measure of +relationship. And finally along certain general lines the German Yorick +exercised an influence over the way men thought and wanted to think. + +The direct imitations of Sterne are very numerous, a crowd of followers, +a motley procession of would-be Yoricks, set out on one expedition or +another. Musäus[22] in a review of certain sentimental meanderings in +the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[23] remarked that the increase of +such journeyings threatened to bring about a new epoch in the taste of +the time. He adds that the good Yorick presumably never anticipated +becoming the founder of a fashionable sect. This was in 1773. Other +expressions of alarm or disapprobation might be cited. + +Through Sterne’s influence the account of travels became more personal, +less purely topographical, more volatile and merry, more subjective.[24] +Goethe in a passage in the “Campagne in Frankreich,” to which reference +is made later, acknowledges this impulse as derived from Yorick. Its +presence was felt even when there was no outward effort at sentimental +journeying. The suggestion that the record of a journey was personal and +tinged with humor was essential to its popularity. It was probably +purely an effort to make use of this appeal which led the author of +“Bemerkungen eines Reisenden durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England und +Holland,”[25] a work of purely practical observation, to place upon his +title-page the alluring lines from Gay: “Life is a jest and all things +shew it. I thought so once, but now I know it;” a promise of humorous +attitude which does not find fulfilment in the heavy volumes of purely +objective description which follow. + +Probably the first German book to bear the name Yorick in its title was +a short satirical sketch entitled, “Yorick und die Bibliothek der +elenden Scribenten, an Hrn.--” 1768, 8vo (Anspach),[26] which is linked +to the quite disgustingly scurrilous Antikriticus controversy. + +Attempts at whimsicality, imitations also of the Shandean gallery of +originals appear, and the more particularly Shandean style of narration +is adopted in the novels of the period which deal with middle-class +domestic life. Of books directly inspired by Sterne, or following more +or less slavishly his guidance, a considerable proportion has +undoubtedly been consigned to merited oblivion. In many cases it is +possible to determine from contemporary reviews the nature of the +individual product, and the probable extent of indebtedness to the +British model. If it were possible to find and examine them all with a +view to establishing extent of relationship, the identity of motifs, +the borrowing of thought and sentiment, such a work would give us little +more than we learn from consideration of representative examples. In the +following chapter the attempt will be made to treat a number of typical +products. Baker in his article on Sterne in Germany adopts the rather +hazardous expedient of judging merely by title and taking from Goedeke’s +“Grundriss,” works which suggests a dependence on Sterne.[27] + +The early relation of several great men of letters to Sterne has been +already treated in connection with the gradual awakening of Germany to +the new force. Wieland was one of Sterne’s most ardent admirers, one of +his most intelligent interpreters; but since his relationship to Sterne +has been made the theme of special study,[28] there will be needed here +but a brief recapitulation with some additional comment. Especially in +the productions of the years 1768-1774 are the direct allusions to +Sterne and his works numerous, the adaptations of motifs frequent, and +imitation of literary style unmistakable. Behmer finds no demonstrable +evidence of Sterne’s influence in Wieland’s work prior to two poems of +the year 1768, “Endymions Traum” and “Chloe;” but in the works of the +years immediately following there is abundant evidence both in style and +in subject matter, in the fund of allusion and illustration, to +establish the author’s indebtedness to Sterne. Behmer analyzes from this +standpoint the following works: “Beiträge zur geheimen Geschichte des +menschlichen Verstandes und Herzens;” “Sokrates Mainomenos oder die +Dialogen des Diogenes von Sinope;” “Der neue Amadis;” “Der goldene +Spiegel;” “Geschichte des Philosophen Danischmende;” “Gedanken über eine +alte Aufschrift;” “Geschichte der Abderiten.”[29] + +In these works, but in different measure in each, Behmer finds Sterne +copied stylistically, in the constant conversations about the worth of +the book, the comparative value of the different chapters and the +difficulty of managing the material, in the fashion of inconsequence in +unexplained beginnings and abrupt endings, in the heaping up of words of +similar meaning, or similar ending, and in the frequent digressions. +Sterne also is held responsible for the manner of introducing the +immorally suggestive, for the introduction of learned quotations and +references to authorities, for the sport made of the learned professions +and the satire upon all kinds of pedantry and overwrought enthusiasm. +Though the direct, demonstrable influence of Sterne upon Wieland’s +literary activity dies out gradually[30] and naturally, with the growth +of his own genius, his admiration for the English favorite abides with +him, passing on into succeeding periods of his development, as his +former enthusiasm for Richardson failed to do.[31] More than twenty +years later, when more sober days had stilled the first unbridled +outburst of sentimentalism, Wieland speaks yet of Sterne in terms of +unaltered devotion: in an article published in the _Merkur_,[32] Sterne +is called among all authors the one “from whom I would last part,”[33] +and the subject of the article itself is an indication of his concern +for the fate of Yorick among his fellow-countrymen. It is in the form of +an epistle to Herr . . . . zu D., and is a vigorous protest against +heedless imitation of Sterne, representing chiefly the perils of such +endeavor and the bathos of the failure. Wieland includes in the letter +some “specimen passages from a novel in the style of Tristram Shandy,” +which he asserts were sent him by the author. The quotations are almost +flat burlesque in their impossible idiocy, and one can easily appreciate +Wieland’s despairing cry with which the article ends. + +A few words of comment upon Behmer’s work will be in place. He accepts +as genuine the two added volumes of the Sentimental Journey and the +Koran, though he admits that the former were published by a friend, not +“without additions of his own,” and he uses these volumes directly at +least in one instance in establishing his parallels, the rescue of the +naked woman from the fire in the third volume of the Journey, and the +similar rescue from the waters in the “Nachlass des Diogenes.”[34] That +Sterne had any connection with these volumes is improbable, and the +Koran is surely a pure fabrication. Behmer seeks in a few words to deny +the reproach cast upon Sterne that he had no understanding of the +beauties of nature, but Behmer is certainly claiming too much when he +speaks of the “Farbenprächtige Schilderungen der ihm ungewohnten +sonnenverklärten Landschaft,” which Sterne gives us “repeatedly” in the +Sentimental Journey, and he finds his most secure evidence for Yorick’s +“genuine and pure” feeling for nature in the oft-quoted passage +beginning, “I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba and cry +‘’Tis all barren.’” It would surely be difficult to find these repeated +instances, for, in the whole work, Sterne gives absolutely no +description of natural scenery beyond the most casual, incidental +reference: the familiar passage is also misinterpreted, it betrays no +appreciation of inanimate nature in itself, and is but a cry in +condemnation of those who fail to find exercise for their sympathetic +emotions. Sterne mentions the “sweet myrtle” and “melancholy +cypress,”[35] not as indicative of his own affection for nature, but as +exemplifying his own exceeding personal need of expenditure of human +sympathy, as indeed the very limit to which sensibility can go, when the +desert denies possibility of human intercourse. Sterne’s attitude is +much better illustrated at the beginning of the “Road to Versailles”: +“As there was nothing in this road, or rather nothing which I look for +in traveling, I cannot fill up the blank better than with a short +history of this self-same bird.” In other words, he met no possibility +for exercising the emotions. Behmer’s statement with reference to +Sterne, “that his authorship proceeds anyway from a parody of +Richardson,” is surely not demonstrable, nor that “this whole fashion of +composition is indeed but ridicule of Richardson.” Richardson’s star had +paled perceptibly before Sterne began to write, and the period of his +immense popularity lies nearly twenty years before. There is not the +slightest reason to suppose that his works have any connection +whatsoever with Richardson’s novels. One is tempted to think that Behmer +confuses Sterne with Fielding, whose career as a novelist did begin as a +parodist of the vain little printer. That the “Starling” in the +Sentimental Journey, which is passed on from hand to hand, and the +burden of government which wanders similarly in “Der Goldene Spiegel” +constitute a parallelism, as Behmer suggests (p. 48), seems rather +far-fetched. It could also be hardly demonstrated that what Behmer calls +“die Sternische Einführungsweise”[36] (p. 54), as used in the +“Geschichte der Abderiten,” is peculiar to Sterne or even characteristic +of him. Behmer (p. 19) seems to be ignorant of any reprints or +translations of the Koran, the letters and the sermons, save those +coming from Switzerland. + +Bauer’s study of the Sterne-Wieland relation is much briefer +(thirty-five pages) and much less satisfactory because less thorough, +yet it contains some few valuable individual points and cited +parallelisms. Bauer errs in stating that Shandy appeared 1759-67 in +York, implying that the whole work was issued there. He gives the dates +of Sterne’s first visit to Paris, also incorrectly, as 1760-62. + +Finally, Wieland cannot be classed among the slavish imitators of +Yorick; he is too independent a thinker, too insistent a pedagogue to +allow himself to be led more than outwardly by the foreign model. He has +something of his own to say and is genuinely serious in a large portion +of his own philosophic speculations: hence, his connection with Sterne, +being largely stylistic and illustrative, may be designated as a drapery +of foreign humor about his own seriousness of theorizing. Wieland’s +Hellenic tendencies make the use of British humor all the more +incongruous.[37] + +Herder’s early acquaintance with Sterne has been already treated. +Subsequent writings offer also occasional indication of an abiding +admiration. Soon after his arrival in Paris he wrote to Hartknoch +praising Sterne’s characterization of the French people.[38] The fifth +“Wäldchen,” which is concerned with the laughable, contains reference to +Sterne.[39] + +With Lessing the case is similar: a striking statement of personal +regard has been recorded, but Lessing’s literary work of the following +years does not betray a significant influence from Yorick. To be sure, +allusion is made to Sterne a few times in letters[40] and elsewhere, +but no direct manifestation of devotion is discoverable. The compelling +consciousness of his own message, his vigorous interest in deeper +problems of religion and philosophy, the then increasing worth of native +German literature, may well have overshadowed the influence of the +volatile Briton. + +Goethe’s expressions of admiration for Sterne and indebtedness to him +are familiar. Near the end of his life (December 16, 1828), when the +poet was interested in observing the history and sources of his own +culture, and was intent upon recording his own experience for the +edification and clarification of the people, he says in conversation +with Eckermann: “I am infinitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne and +Goldsmith.”[41] And a year later in a letter to Zelter,[42] (Weimar, +December 25, 1829), “The influence Goldsmith and Sterne exercised upon +me, just at the chief point of my development, cannot be estimated. This +high, benevolent irony, this just and comprehensive way of viewing +things, this gentleness to all opposition, this equanimity under every +change, and whatever else all the kindred virtues may be termed--such +things were a most admirable training for me, and surely, these are the +sentiments which in the end lead us back from all the mistaken paths of +life.” + +In the same conversation with Eckermann from which the first quotation +is made, Goethe seems to defy the investigator who would endeavor to +define his indebtedness to Sterne, its nature and its measure. The +occasion was an attempt on the part of certain writers to determine the +authorship of certain distichs printed in both Schiller’s and Goethe’s +works. Upon a remark of Eckermann’s that this effort to hunt down a +man’s originality and to trace sources is very common in the literary +world, Goethe says: “Das ist sehr lächerlich, man könnte ebenso gut +einen wohlgenährten Mann nach den Ochsen, Schafen und Schweinen fragen, +die er gegessen und die ihm Kräfte gegeben.” An investigation such as +Goethe seems to warn us against here would be one of tremendous +difficulty, a theme for a separate work. It is purposed here to gather +only information with reference to Goethe’s expressed or implied +attitude toward Sterne, his opinion of the British master, and to note +certain connections between Goethe’s work and that of Sterne, +connections which are obvious or have been already a matter of comment +and discussion. + +In Strassburg under Herder’s[43] guidance, Goethe seems first to have +read the works of Sterne. His life in Frankfurt during the interval +between his two periods of university residence was not of a nature +calculated to increase his acquaintance with current literature, and his +studies did not lead to interest in literary novelty. This is his own +statement in “Dichtung und Wahrheit.”[44] That Herder’s enthusiasm for +Sterne was generous has already been shown by letters written in the few +years previous to his sojourn in Strassburg. Letters written to +Merck[45] (Strassburg, 1770-1771) would seem to show that then too +Sterne still stood high in his esteem. Whatever the exact time of +Goethe’s first acquaintance with Sterne, we know that he recommended the +British writer to Jung-Stilling for the latter’s cultivation in +letters.[46] Less than a year after Goethe’s departure from Strassburg, +we find him reading aloud to the Darmstadt circle the story of poor Le +Fevre from Tristram Shandy. This is reported in a letter, dated May 8, +1772, by Caroline Flachsland, Herder’s fiancée.[47] It is not evident +whether they read Sterne in the original or in the translation of +Zückert, the only one then available, unless possibly the reader gave a +translation as he read. Later in the same letter, Caroline mentions the +“Empfindsame Reisen,” possibly meaning Bode’s translation. She also +records reading Shakespeare in Wieland’s rendering, but as she speaks +later still of peeping into the English books which Herder had sent +Merck, it is a hazardous thing to reason from her mastery of English at +that time to the use of original or translation on the occasion of +Goethe’s reading. + +Contemporary criticism saw in the Martin of “Götz von Berlichingen” +a likeness to Sterne’s creations;[48] and in the other great work of the +pre-Weimarian period, in “Werther,” though no direct influence rewards +one’s search, one must acknowledge the presence of a mental and +emotional state to which Sterne was a contributor. Indeed Goethe himself +suggests this relationship. Speaking of “Werther” in the “Campagne in +Frankreich,”[49] he observes in a well-known passage that Werther did +not cause the disease, only exposed it, and that Yorick shared in +preparing the ground-work of sentimentalism on which “Werther” is built. + +According to the quarto edition of 1837, the first series of letters +from Switzerland dates from 1775, although they were not published till +1808, in the eleventh volume of the edition begun in 1806. Scherer, +in his “History of German Literature,” asserts that these letters are +written in imitation of Sterne, but it is difficult to see the occasion +for such a statement. The letters are, in spite of all haziness +concerning the time of their origin and Goethe’s exact purpose regarding +them,[50] a “fragment of Werther’s travels” and are confessedly cast in +a sentimental tone, which one might easily attribute to a Werther, +in whom hyperesthesia has not yet developed to delirium, an earlier +Werther. Yorick’s whim and sentiment are quite wanting, and the +sensuousness, especially as pertains to corporeal beauty, is distinctly +Goethean. + +Goethe’s accounts of his own travels are quite free from the Sterne +flavor; in fact he distinctly says that through the influence of the +Sentimental Journey all records of journeys had been mostly given up to +the feelings and opinions of the traveler, but that he, after his +Italian journey, had endeavored to keep himself objective.[51] + +Dr. Robert Riemann in his study of Goethe’s novels,[52] calls Friedrich +in “Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre” a representative of Sterne’s humor, and +he finds in Mittler in the “Wahlverwandtschaften” a union of seriousness +and the comic of caricature, reminiscent of Sterne and Hippel. Friedrich +is mercurial, petulant, utterly irresponsible, a creature of mirth and +laughter, subject to unreasoning fits of passion. One might, in thinking +of another character in fiction, designate Friedrich as faun-like. In +all of this one can, however, find little if any demonstrable likeness +to Sterne or Sterne’s creations. It is rather difficult also to see +wherein the character of Mittler is reminiscent of Sterne. Mittler is +introduced with the obvious purpose of representing certain opinions and +of aiding the development of the story by his insistence upon them. He +represents a brusque, practical kind of benevolence, and his +eccentricity lies only in the extraordinary occupation which he has +chosen for himself. Riemann also traces to Sterne, Fielding and their +German followers, Goethe’s occasional use of the direct appeal to the +reader. Doubtless Sterne’s example here was a force in extending this +rhetorical convention. + +It is claimed by Goebel[53] that Goethe’s “Homunculus,” suggested to the +master partly by reading of Paracelsus and partly by Sterne’s mediation, +is in some characteristics of his being dependent directly on Sterne’s +creation. In a meeting of the “Gesellschaft für deutsche Litteratur,” +November, 1896, Brandl expressed the opinion that Maria of Moulines was +a prototype of Mignon in “Wilhelm Meister.”[54] + +The references to Sterne in Goethe’s works, in his letters and +conversations, are fairly numerous in the aggregate, but not especially +striking relatively. In the conversations with Eckermann there are +several other allusions besides those already mentioned. Goethe calls +Eckermann a second Shandy for suffering illness without calling a +physician, even as Walter Shandy failed to attend to the squeaking +door-hinge.[55] Eckermann himself draws on Sterne for illustrations in +Yorick’s description of Paris,[56] and on January 24, 1830, at a time +when we know that Goethe was re-reading Sterne, Eckermann refers to +Yorick’s (?) doctrine of the reasonable use of grief.[57] That Goethe +near the end of his life turned again to Sterne’s masterpiece is proved +by a letter to Zelter, October 5, 1830;[58] he adds here too that his +admiration has increased with the years, speaking particularly of +Sterne’s gay arraignment of pedantry and philistinism. But a few days +before this, October 1, 1830, in a conversation reported by Riemer,[59] +he expresses the same opinion and adds that Sterne was the first to +raise himself and us from pedantry and philistinism. By these remarks +Goethe commits himself in at least one respect to a favorable view of +Sterne’s influence on German letters. A few other minor allusions to +Sterne may be of interest. In an article in the _Horen_ (1795, +V. Stück,) entitled “Literarischer Sansculottismus,” Goethe mentions +Smelfungus as a type of growler.[60] In the “Wanderjahre”[61] there is a +reference to Yorick’s classification of travelers. Düntzer, in Schnorr’s +_Archiv_,[62] explains a passage in a letter of Goethe’s to Johanna +Fahlmer (August, 1775), “die Verworrenheiten des Diego und Juliens” as +an allusion to the “Intricacies of Diego and Julia” in Slawkenbergius’s +tale,[63] and to the traveler’s conversation with his beast. In a letter +to Frau von Stein[64] five years later (September 18, 1780) Goethe used +this same expression, and the editor of the letters avails himself of +Düntzer’s explanation. Düntzer further explains the word θεοδοκος, +used in Goethe’s Tagebuch with reference to the Duke, in connection with +the term θεοδιδακτος applied to Walter Shandy. The word is, however, +somewhat illegible in the manuscript. It was printed thus in the edition +of the Tagebuch published by Robert Keil, but when Düntzer himself, nine +years after the article in the _Archiv_, published an edition of the +Tagebücher he accepted a reading θεοτατος,[65] meaning, as he says, “ein +voller Gott,” thereby tacitly retracting his former theory of connection +with Sterne. + +The best known relationship between Goethe and Sterne is in connection +with the so-called plagiarisms in the appendix to the third volume of +the “Wanderjahre.” Here, in the second edition, were printed under the +title “Aus Makariens Archiv” various maxims and sentiments. Among these +were a number of sayings, reflections, axioms, which were later +discovered to have been taken bodily from the second part of the Koran, +the best known Sterne-forgery. Alfred Hédouin, in “Le Monde Maçonnique” +(1863), in an article “Goethe plagiaire de Sterne,” first located the +quotations.[66] + +Mention has already been made of the account of Robert Springer, which +is probably the last published essay on the subject. It is entitled “Ist +Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz Sternes?” and is found in the volume +“Essays zur Kritik und Philosophie und zur Goethe-Litteratur.”[67] +Springer cites at some length the liberal opinions of Molière, La +Bruyère, Wieland, Heine and others concerning the literary appropriation +of another’s thought. He then proceeds to quote Goethe’s equally +generous views on the subject, and adds the uncritical fling that if +Goethe robbed Sterne, it was an honor to Sterne, a gain to his literary +fame. Near the end of his paper, Springer arrives at the question in +hand and states positively that these maxims, with their miscellaneous +companions, were never published by Goethe, but were found by the +editors of his literary remains among his miscellaneous papers, and then +issued in the ninth volume of the posthumous works. Hédouin had +suggested this possible explanation. Springer adds that the editors were +unaware of the source of this material and supposed it to be original +with Goethe. + +The facts of the case are, however, as follows: “Wilhelm Meister’s +Wanderjahre” was published first in 1821.[68] In 1829, a new and revised +edition was issued in the “Ausgabe letzter Hand.” Eckermann in his +conversations with Goethe[69] relates the circumstances under which the +appendices were added to the earlier work. When the book was in press, +the publisher discovered that of the three volumes planned, the last two +were going to be too thin, and begged for more material to fill out +their scantiness. In this perplexity Goethe brought to Eckermann two +packets of miscellaneous notes to be edited and added to those two +slender volumes. In this way arose the collection of sayings, scraps and +quotations “Im Sinne der Wanderer” and “Aus Makariens Archiv.” It was +later agreed that Eckermann, when Goethe’s literary remains should be +published, should place the matter elsewhere, ordered into logical +divisions of thought. All of the sentences here under special +consideration were published in the twenty-third volume of the “Ausgabe +letzter Hand,” which is dated 1830,[70] and are to be found there, on +pages 271-275 and 278-281. They are reprinted in the identical order in +the ninth volume of the “Nachgelassene Werke,” which also bore the +title, Vol. XLIX of “Ausgabe letzter Hand,” there found on pages 121-125 +and 127-131. Evidently Springer found them here in the posthumous works, +and did not look for them in the previous volume, which was published +two years or thereabouts before Goethe’s death. + +Of the sentiments, sentences and quotations dealing with Sterne, there +are twenty which are translations from the Koran, in Loeper’s edition of +“Sprüche in Prosa,”[71] Nos. 491-507 and 543-544; seventeen others (Nos. +490, 508-509, 521-533, 535) contain direct appreciative criticism of +Sterne; No. 538 is a comment upon a Latin quotation in the Koran and No. +545 is a translation of another quotation in the same work. No. 532 +gives a quotation from Sterne, “Ich habe mein Elend nicht wie ein weiser +Mann benutzt,” which Loeper says he has been unable to find in any of +Sterne’s works. It is, however, in a letter[72] to John Hall Stevenson, +written probably in August, 1761. The translation here is inexact. +Loeper did not succeed in finding Nos. 534, 536, 537, although their +position indicates that they were quotations from Sterne, but No. 534 is +in a letter to Garrick from Paris, March 19, 1762. The German +translation however conveys a different impression from the original +English. The other two are not located; in spite of their position, the +way in which the book was put together would certainly allow for the +possibility of extraneous material creeping in. At their first +appearance in the “Ausgabe letzter Hand,” five Sprüche, Nos. 491, 543, +534, 536, 537, were supplied with quotation marks, though the source was +not indicated. Thus it is seen that the most of the quotations were +published as original during Goethe’s lifetime, but he probably never +considered it of sufficient consequence to disavow their authorship in +public. It is quite possible that the way in which they were forced into +“Wilhelm Meister” was distasteful to him afterwards, and he did not care +to call attention to them. + +Goethe’s opinion of Sterne as expressed in the sentiments which +accompany the quotations from the Koran is significant. “Yorick Sterne,” +he says, “war der schönste Geist, der je gewirkt hat; wer ihn liest, +fühlet sich sogleich frei und schön; sein Humor ist unnachahmlich, und +nicht jeder Humor befreit die Seele” (490). “Sagacität und Penetration +sind bei ihm grenzenlos” (528). Goethe asserts here that every person of +culture should at that very time read Sterne’s works, so that the +nineteenth century might learn “what we owed him and perceive what we +might owe him.” Goethe took Sterne’s narrative of his journey as a +representation of an actual trip, or else he is speaking of Sterne’s +letters in the following: + +“Seine Heiterkeit, Genügsamkeit, Duldsamkeit auf der Reise, wo diese +Eigenschaften am meisten geprüft werden, finden nicht leicht +Ihresgleichen” (No. 529), and Goethe’s opinion of Sterne’s indecency is +characteristic of Goethe’s attitude. He says: “Das Element der +Lüsternheit, in dem er sich so zierlich und sinnig benimmt, würde vielen +Andern zum Verderben gereichen.” + +The juxtaposition of these quotations and this appreciation of Sterne is +proof sufficient that Goethe considered Sterne the author of the Koran +at the time when the notes were made. At precisely what time this +occurred it is now impossible to determine, but the drift of the +comment, combined with our knowledge from sources already mentioned, +that Goethe turned again to Sterne in the latter years of his life, +would indicate that the quotations were made in the latter part of the +twenties, and that the re-reading of Sterne included the Koran. Since +the translations which Goethe gives are not identical with those in the +rendering ascribed to Bode (1778), Loeper suggests Goethe himself as the +translator of the individual quotations. Loeper is ignorant of the +earlier translation of Gellius, which Goethe may have used.[73] + +There is yet another possibility of connection between Goethe and the +Koran. This work contained the story of the Graf von Gleichen, which is +acknowledged to have been a precursor of Goethe’s “Stella.” Düntzer in +his “Erläuterungen zu den deutschen Klassikern” says it is impossible to +determine whence Goethe took the story for “Stella.” He mentions that it +was contained in Bayle’s Dictionary, which is known to have been in +Goethe’s father’s library, and two other books, both dating from the +sixteenth century, are noted as possible sources. It seems rather more +probable that Goethe found the story in the Koran, which was published +but a few years before “Stella” was written and translated but a year +later, 1771, that is, but four years, or even less, before the +appearance of “Stella” (1775).[74] + +Precisely in the spirit of the opinions quoted above is the little +essay[75] on Sterne which was published in the sixth volume of “Ueber +Kunst und Alterthum,” in which Goethe designates Sterne as a man “who +first stimulated and propagated the great epoch of purer knowledge of +humanity, noble toleration and tender love, in the second half of the +last century.” Goethe further calls attenion to Sterne’s disclosure of +human peculiarities (Eigenheiten), and the importance and interest of +these native, governing idiosyncrasies. + +These are, in general, superficial relationships. A thorough +consideration of these problems, especially as concerns the cultural +indebtedness of Goethe to the English master would be a task demanding a +separate work. Goethe was an assimilator and summed up in himself the +spirit of a century, the attitude of predecessors and contemporaries. + +C. F. D. Schubart wrote a poem entitled “Yorick,”[76] beginning + + “Als Yorik starb, da flog + Sein Seelchen auf den Himmel + So leicht wie ein Seufzerchen.” + +The angels ask him for news of earth, and the greater part of the poem +is occupied with his account of human fate. The relation is quite +characteristic of Schubart in its gruesomeness, its insistence upon +all-surrounding death and dissolution; but it contains no suggestion of +Sterne’s manner, or point of view. The only explanation of association +between the poem and its title is that Schubart shared the one-sided +German estimate of Sterne’s character and hence represented him as a +sympathetic messenger bringing to heaven on his death some tidings of +human weakness. + +In certain other manifestations, relatively subordinate, the German +literature of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the +beginning of the nineteenth and the life embodied therein are different +from what they would have been had it not been for Sterne’s example. +Some of these secondary fruits of the Sterne cult have been mentioned +incidentally and exemplified in the foregoing pages. It would perhaps be +conducive to definiteness to gather them here. + +Sterne’s incontinuity of narration, the purposeful irrelation of parts, +the use of anecdote and episode, which to the stumbling reader reduce +his books to collections of disconnected essays and instances, gave to +German mediocrity a sanction to publish a mass of multifarious, +unrelated, and nondescript thought and incident. It is to be noted that +the spurious books such as the Koran, which Germany never clearly +sundered from the original, were direct examples in England of such +disjointed, patchwork books. Such a volume with a significant title is +“Mein Kontingent zur Modelectüre.”[77] Further, eccentricity in +typography, in outward form, may be largely attributed to Sterne’s +influence, although in individual cases no direct connection is +traceable. Thus, to the vagaries of Shandy is due probably the license +of the author of “Karl Blumenberg, eine tragisch-komische +Geschichte,”[78] who fills half pages with dashes and whole lines with +“Ha! Ha!” + +As has been suggested already, Sterne’s example was potent in fostering +the use of such stylistic peculiarities, as the direct appeal to, and +conversation with the reader about the work, and its progress, and the +various features of the situation. It was in use by Sterne’s +predecessors in England and by their followers in Germany, before Sterne +can be said to have exercised any influence; for example, Hermes uses +the device constantly in “Miss Fanny Wilkes,” but Sterne undoubtedly +contributed largely to its popularity. One may perhaps trace to Sterne’s +blank pages and similar vagaries the eccentricity of the author of +“Ueber die Moralische Schönheit und Philosophie des Lebens,”[79] whose +eighth chapter is titled “Vom Stolz, eine Erzählung,” this title +occupying one page; the next page (210) is blank; the following page is +adorned with an urnlike decoration beneath which we read, “Es war einmal +ein Priester.” These three pages complete the chapter. The author of +“Dorset und Julie” (Leipzig, 1773-4) is also guilty of similar Yorickian +follies.[80] + +Sterne’s ideas found approbation and currency apart from his general +message of the sentimental and humorous attitude toward the world and +its course. For example, the hobby-horse theory was warmly received, and +it became a permanent figure in Germany, often, and especially at first, +with playful reminder of Yorick’s use of the term.[81] Yorick’s +mock-scientific division of travelers seems to have met with especial +approval, and evidently became a part of conversational, and epistolary +commonplace allusion. Goethe in a letter to Marianne Willemer, November +9, 1830,[82] with direct reference to Sterne proposes for his son, then +traveling in Italy, the additional designation of the “bold” or +“complete” traveler. Carl August in a letter to Knebel,[83] dated +December 26, 1785, makes quite extended allusion to the classification. +Lessing writes to Mendelssohn December 12, 1780: “The traveler whom you +sent to me a while ago was an inquisitive traveler. The one with whom I +now answer is an emigrating one.” The passage which follows is an +apology for thus adding to Yorick’s list. The two travelers were +respectively one Fliess and Alexander Daveson.[84] Nicolai makes similar +allusion to the “curious” traveler of Sterne’s classification near the +beginning of his “Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die +Schweiz im Jahre 1781.”[85] + +Further search would increase the number of such allusions indefinitely. +A few will be mentioned in the following chapter. + +One of Walter Shandy’s favorite contentions was the fortuitous +dependence of great events upon insignificant details. In his +philosophy, trifles were the determining factors of existence. The +adoption of this theory in Germany, as a principle in developing events +or character in fiction, is unquestionable in Wezel’s “Tobias Knaut,” +and elsewhere. The narrative, “Die Grosse Begebenheit aus kleinen +Ursachen” in the second volume of the _Erholungen_,[86] represents a +wholesale appropriation of the idea,--to be sure not new in Shandy, but +most strikingly exemplified there. + +In “Sebaldus Nothanker” the Revelation of St. John is a Sterne-like +hobby-horse and is so regarded by a reviewer in the _Magazin der +deutschen Critik_.[87] Schottenius in Knigge’s “Reise nach Braunschweig” +rides his hobby in the shape of his fifty-seven sermons.[88] Lessing +uses the Steckenpferd in a letter to Mendelssohn, November 5, 1768 +(Lachmann edition, XII, p. 212), and numerous other examples of direct +or indirect allusion might be cited. Sterne’s worn-out coin was a simile +adopted and felt to be pointed.[89] + +Jacob Minor in a suggestive article in _Euphorion_,[90] entitled +“Wahrheit und Lüge auf dem Theater und in der Literatur,” expressed the +opinion that Sterne was instrumental in sharpening powers of observation +with reference to self-deception in little things, to all the deceiving +impulses of the human soul. It is held that through Sterne’s inspiration +Wieland and Goethe were rendered zealous to combat false ideals and +life-lies in greater things. It is maintained that Tieck also was +schooled in Sterne, and, by means of powers of observation sharpened in +this way, was enabled to portray the conscious or unconscious life-lie. + + [Footnote 1: A writer in the _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1775 + (II, 787 ff.), asserts that Sterne’s works are the favorite + reading of the German nation.] + + [Footnote 2: A further illustration may be found in the following + discourse: “Von einigen Hindernissen des akademischen Fleisses. + Eine Rede bey dem Anfange der öffentlichen Vorlesungen gehalten,” + von J. C. C. Ferber, Professor zu Helmstädt (1773, 8vo), reviewed + in _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, III, St. I., pp. 261 ff. This + academic guide of youth speaks of Sterne in the following words: + “Wie tief dringt dieser Philosoph in die verborgensten Gänge des + menschlichen Herzens, wie richtig entdeckt er die geheimsten + Federn der Handlungen, wie entlarvt, wie verabscheuungsvoll steht + vor ihm das Laster, wie liebenswürdig die Tugend! wie interessant + sind seine Schilderungen, wie eindringend seine Lehren! und woher + diese grosse Kenntniss des Menschen, woher diese getreue + Bezeichnung der Natur, diese sanften Empfindungen, die seine + geistvolle Sprache hervorbringt? Dieser Saame der Tugend, den er + mit wohlthätiger Hand ausstreuet?” Yorick held up to college or + university students as a champion of virtue is certainly an + extraordinary spectacle. A critic in the _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, + August 18, 1772, in criticising the make-up of a so-called + “Landbibliothek,” recommends books “die geschickt sind, die guten + einfältigen, ungekünstelten Empfindungen reiner Seelen zu + unterhalten, einen Yorick vor allen . . . .” The long article on + Sterne’s character in the _Götting. Mag._, I, pp. 84-92, 1780, + “Etwas über Sterne: Schreiben an Prof. Lichtenberg” undoubtedly + helped to establish this opinion of Sterne authoritatively. In it + Sterne’s weaknesses are acknowledged, but the tendency is to + emphasize the tender, sympathetic side of his character. The + conception of Yorick there presented is quite different from the + one held by Lichtenberg himself.] + + [Footnote 3: The story of the “Lorenzodosen” is given quite fully + in Longo’s monograph, “Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi” + (Wien, 1898, pp. 39-44), and the sketch given here is based upon + his investigation, with consultation of the sources there cited. + Nothing new is likely to be added to his account, but because of + its important illustrative bearing on the whole story of Sterne in + Germany, a fairly complete account is given here. Longo refers to + the following as literature on the subject: + + Martin, in _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, p. 10, p. 27, + Anmerk. 24. + + Wittenberg’s letter in _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, pp. 52-53. + + K. M. Werner, in article on Ludw. Philipp Hahn in the same + series, XXII, pp. 127 ff. + + Appell: “Werther und seine Zeit,” Leipzig, 1855, p. 168. + (Oldenburg, 1896, p. 246-250). + + Schlichtegroll: “Nekrolog von 1792,” II, pp. 37 ff. + + Klotz: _Bibliothek_, V, p. 285. + + Jacobi’s Werke, 1770, I, pp. 127 ff. + + _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XIX, 2, p. 174; XII, 2, p. 279. + + Julian Schmidt: “Aus der Zeit der Lorenzodosen,” _Westermann’s + Monatshefte_, XLIX, pp. 479 ff. + + The last article is popular and only valuable in giving letters + of Wieland and others which display the emotional currents of the + time. It has very little to do with the Lorenzodosen.] + + [Footnote 4: The letter is reprinted in Jacobi’s Works, 1770, I, + pp. 31 ff., and in an abridged form in the edition of 1807, I, pp. + 103 ff.; and in the edition of Zürich, 1825, I, pp. 270-275.] + + [Footnote 5: XI, 2, pp. 174-75.] + + [Footnote 6: _Quellen und Forschungen_, XXII, p. 127.] + + [Footnote 7: _Ibid._, II, pp. 52-53.] + + [Footnote 8: This was in a letter to Jacobi October 25, 1770, + though Appell gives the date 1775--evidently a misprint.] + + [Footnote 9: Review of “Trois lettres françoises par quelques + allemands,” Amsterdam (Berlin), 1769, 8vo, letters concerned with + Jacobi’s “Winterreise” and the snuff-boxes themselves.] + + [Footnote 10: XII, 2, p. 279.] + + [Footnote 11: Longo was unable to find one of these once so + popular snuff-boxes,--a rather remarkable fact. There is, however, + a picture of one at the end of the chapter “Yorick,” p. 15 in + Göchhausen’s M . . . . R . . . .,--a small oval box. Emil Kuh, in + his life of Fredrich Hebbel (1877, I, pp. 117-118) speaks of the + Lorenzodose as “dreieckig.” A chronicler in Schlichtegroll’s + “Nekrolog,” 1792, II, p. 51, also gives rumor of an order of + “Sanftmuth und Toleranz, der eine dreyeckigte Lorenzodose zum + Symbol führte.” The author here is unable to determine whether + this is a part of Jacobi’s impulse or the initiative of another.] + + [Footnote 12: Fourth Edition. Berlin and Stettin, 1779, III, + p. 99.] + + [Footnote 13: “Christopher Kaufmann, der Kraftapostel der + Geniezeit” von Heinrich Düntzer, _Historisches Taschenbuch_, + edited by Fr. v. Raumer, third series, tenth year, Leipzig, 1859, + pp. 109-231. Düntzer’s sources concerning Kaufmann’s life in + Strassburg are Schmohl’s “Urne Johann Jacob Mochels,” 1780, and + “Johann Jacob Mochel’s Reliquien verschiedener philosophischen + pädogogischen poetischen und andern Aufsätze,” 1780. These books + have unfortunately not been available for the present use.] + + [Footnote 14: For account of Leuchsenring see Varnhagen van Ense, + “Vermischte Schriften”, I. 492-532.] + + [Footnote 15: Schlichtegroll’s “Nekrolog,” 1792, II, pp. 37 ff. + There is also given here a quotation written after Sterne’s death, + which is of interest: + + “Wir erben, Yorick, deine Dose, + Auch deine Feder erben wir; + Doch wer erhielt im Erbschaftsloose + Dein Herz? O Yorick, nenn ihn mir!”] + + [Footnote 16: Works of Friedrich von Matthison, Zürich, 1825, III, + pp. 141 ff., in “Erinnerungen,” zweites Buch. The “Vaterländische + Besuche” were dated 1794.] + + [Footnote 17: Briefe von Friedrich Matthison, Zürich, 1795, I, pp. + 27-32.] + + [Footnote 18: Shandy, III, 22.] + + [Footnote 19: Briefe, II, p. 95.] + + [Footnote 20: “Herders Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut”, pp. 92, + 181, 187, 253, 377.] + + [Footnote 21: Quoted by Koberstein, IV, p. 168. Else, p. 31; + Hettner, III, 1, p. 362, quoted from letters in Friedrich + Schlegel’s _Deutsches Museum_, IV, p. 145. These letters are not + given by Goedeke.] + + [Footnote 22: The review is credited to him by Koberstein, III, + pp. 463-4.] + + [Footnote 23: XIX, 2, p. 579.] + + [Footnote 24: See “Bemerkungen oder Briefe über Wien, eines jungen + Bayern auf einer Reise durch Deutschland,” Leipzig (probably 1804 + or 1805). It is, according to the _Jenaische Allg. Litt. Zeitung_ + (1805, IV, p. 383), full of extravagant sentiment with frequent + apostrophe to the author’s “Evelina.” Also, “Meine Reise vom + Städtchen H . . . . zum Dörfchen H . . . .” Hannover, 1799. See + _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1799, IV, p. 87. “Reisen unter Sonne, Mond + und Sternen,” Erfurt, 1798, pp. 220, 8vo. This is evidently a + similar work, but is classed by _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_ (1799, + I, 477) as an imitation of Jean Paul, hence indirectly to be + connected with Yorick. “Reisen des grünen Mannes durch + Deutschland,” Halle, 1787-91. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1789, + I, 217; 1791, IV, p. 576. “Der Teufel auf Reisen,” two volumes, + Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1789. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1789, I, + p. 826. Knigge’s books of travels also share in this enlivening + and subjectivizing of the traveler’s narrative.] + + [Footnote 25: Altenburg, Richter, 1775, six volumes.] + + [Footnote 26: Reviewed in _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, X, 2, p. 127, + and _Neue Critische Nachrichten_, Greifswald V, p. 222.] + + [Footnote 27: Many of the anonymous books, even those popular in + their day, are not given by Goedeke; and Baker, judging only by + one external, naturally misses Sterne products which have no + distinctively imitative title, and includes others which have no + connection with Sterne. For example, he gives Gellius’s “Yoricks + Nachgelassene Werke,” which is but a translation of the Koran, + and hence in no way an example of German imitation; he gives also + Schummel’s “Fritzens Reise nach Dessau” (1776) and “Reise nach + Schlesien” (1792), Nonne’s “Amors Reisen nach Fockzana zum + Friedenscongress” (1773), none of which has anything to do with + Sterne. “Trim oder der Sieg der Liebe über die Philosophie” + (Leipzig, 1776), by Ludw. Ferd. v. Hopffgarten, also cited by + Baker, undoubtedly owes its name only to Sterne. See _Jenaische + Zeitungen von gel. Sachen_, 1777, p. 67, and _Allg. deutsche + Bibl._, XXXIV, 2, p. 484; similarly “Lottchens Reise ins + Zuchthaus” by Kirtsten, 1777, is given in Baker’s list, but the + work “Reise” is evidently used here only in a figurative sense, + the story being but the relation of character deterioration, + a downward journey toward the titular place of punishment. See + _Jenaische Zeitungen von gel. Sachen_, 1777, pp. 739 ff.; 1778, + p. 12. _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXV, 1, p. 182. Baker gives Bock’s + “Tagereise” and “Geschichte eines empfundenen Tages” as if they + were two different books. He further states: “Sterne is the parent + of a long list of German Sentimental Journeys which began with von + Thümmel’s ‘Reise in die mittäglichen Provinzen Frankreichs.’” This + work really belongs comparatively late in the story of imitations. + Two of Knigge’s books are also included. See p. 166-7.] + + [Footnote 28: “Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland, von Karl August + Behmer, Forschungen zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte IX. München, + 1899. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung fremder Einflüsse auf Wieland’s + Dichtung.” To this reference has been made. There is also another + briefer study of this connection: a Programm by F. Bauer, “Ueber + den Einfluss, Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. Wieland,” Karlsbad, + 1898. A. Mager published, 1890, at Marburg, “Wieland’s Nachlass + des Diogenes von Sinope und das englische Vorbild,” a school + “Abhandlung,” which dealt with a connection between this work of + Wieland and Sterne. Wood (“Einfluss Fieldings auf die deutsche + Litteratur,” Yokohama, 1895) finds constant imitation of Sterne in + “Don Silvio,” which, from Behmer’s proof concerning the dates of + Wieland’s acquaintance with Sterne, can hardly be possible.] + + [Footnote 29: Some other works are mentioned as containing + references and allusions.] + + [Footnote 30: In “Oberon” alone of Wieland’s later works does + Behmer discover Sterne’s influence and there no longer in the + style, but in the adaptation of motif.] + + [Footnote 31: See Erich Schmidt’s “Richardson, Rousseau und + Goethe,” Jena, 1875, pp. 46-7.] + + [Footnote 32: 1790, I, pp. 209-16.] + + [Footnote 33: This may be well compared with Wieland’s statements + concerning Shandy in his review of the Bode translation (_Merkur_, + VIII, pp. 247-51, 1774), which forms one of the most exaggerated + expressions of adoration in the whole epoch of Sterne’s + popularity.] + + [Footnote 34: Since Germany did not sharply separate the work of + Sterne from his continuator, this is, of course, to be classed + from the German point of view at that time as a borrowing from + Sterne. Mager in his study depends upon the Eugenius continuation + for this and several other parallels.] + + [Footnote 35: Sentimental Journey, pp. 31-32.] + + [Footnote 36: “Ich denke nicht, dass es Sie gereuen wird, den Mann + näher kennen zu lernen” spoken of Demokritus in “Die Abderiten;” + see _Merkur_, 1774, I, p. 56.] + + [Footnote 37: Wieland’s own genuine appreciation of Sterne and + understanding of his characteristics is indicated incidentally in + a review of a Swedish book in the _Teutscher Merkur_, 1782, II, + p. 192, in which he designates the description of sentimental + journeying in the seventh book of Shandy as the best of Sterne’s + accomplishment, as greater than the Journey itself, a judgment + emanating from a keen and true knowledge of Sterne.] + + [Footnote 38: Lebensbild, V, Erlangen, 1846, p. 89. Letter to + Hartknoch, Paris, November, 1769. In connection with his journey + and his “Reisejournal,” he speaks of his “Tristramschen + Meynungen.” See Lebensbild, Vol. V, p. 61.] + + [Footnote 39: Suphan, IV, p. 190. For further reference to Sterne + in Herder’s letters, see “Briefe Herders an Hamann,” edited by + Otto Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, pp. 28, 51, 57, 71, 78, 194.] + + [Footnote 40: Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840, XII, pp. 212, 240.] + + [Footnote 41: Eckermann: “Gespräche mit Goethe,” Leipzig, 1885, + II, p. 29; or Biedermann, “Goethe’s Gespräche,” Leipzig, 1890, + VI, p. 359.] + + [Footnote 42: “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter, in den + Jahren, 1796-1832.” Ed. by Fr. W. Riemer, Berlin, 1833-4, Vol. V, + p. 349. Both of these quotations are cited by Siegmund Levy, + “Goethe und Oliver Goldsmith;” Goethe-Jahrbuch, VI, 1885, pp. + 282 ff. The translation in this case is from that of A. D. + Coleridge.] + + [Footnote 43: Griesebach: “Das Goetheische Zeitalter der deutschen + Dichtung,” Leipzig, 1891, p. 29.] + + [Footnote 44: II, 10th book, Hempel, XXI, pp. 195 ff.] + + [Footnote 45: “Briefe an Joh. Heinrich Merck von Göthe, Herder, + Wieland und andern bedeutenden Zeitgenossen,” edited by Dr. Karl + Wagner, Darmstadt, 1835, p. 5; and “Briefe an und von Joh. + Heinrich Merck,” issued by the same editor, Darmstadt, 1838, + pp. 5, 21.] + + [Footnote 46: In the “Wanderschaft,” see J. H. Jung-Stilling, + Sämmtliche Werke. Stuttgart, 1835, I, p. 277.] + + [Footnote 47: “Herder’s Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut, April, + 1771, to April, 1773,” edited by Düntzer and F. G. von Herder, + Frankfurt-am-Main, 1858, pp. 247 ff.] + + [Footnote 48: See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1774, February 22.] + + [Footnote 49: Kürschner edition of Goethe, Vol. XXII, pp. 146-7.] + + [Footnote 50: See introduction by Dünster in the Kürschner + edition, XIII, pp. 137 ff., and that by Fr. Strehlke in the Hempel + edition, XVI. pp. 217 ff.] + + [Footnote 51: Kürschner edition, Vol. XXIV, p. 15; Tag- und + Jahreshefte, 1789.] + + [Footnote 52: “Goethe’s Romantechnik,” Leipzig, 1902. The author + here incidentally expresses the opinion that Heinse is also an + imitator of Sterne.] + + [Footnote 53: Julius Goebel, in “Goethe-Jahrbuch,” XXI, pp. + 208 ff.] + + [Footnote 54: See _Euphorion_, IV, p. 439.] + + [Footnote 55: Eckermann, III, p. 155; Biedermann, VI, p. 272.] + + [Footnote 56: Eckermann, III, p. 170; Biedermann, VI, p. 293.] + + [Footnote 57: Eckermann, II, p. 19; Biedermann, VII, p. 184. This + quotation is given in the Anhang to the “Wanderjahre.” Loeper says + (Hempel, XIX, p. 115) that he has been unable to find it anywhere + in Sterne; see p. 105.] + + [Footnote 58: See “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter.” + Zelter’s replies contain also reference to Sterne. VI, p. 33 he + speaks of the Sentimental Journey as “ein balsamischer + Frühlingsthau.” See also II, p. 51; VI, p. 207. Goethe is reported + as having spoken of the Sentimental Journey: “Man könne durchaus + nicht besser ausdrücken, wie des Menschen Herz ein trotzig und + verzagt Ding sei.”] + + [Footnote 59: “Mittheilungen über Goethe,” von F. W. Riemer, + Berlin, 1841, II, p. 658. Also, Biedermann, VII, p. 332.] + + [Footnote 60: See Hempel, XXIX, p. 240.] + + [Footnote 61: Kürschner, XVI, p. 372.] + + [Footnote 62: IX, p. 438.] + + [Footnote 63: See “Briefe von Goethe an Johanna Fahlmer,” edited + by L. Ulrichs, Leipzig, 1875, p. 91, and Shandy, II, pp. 70 + and 48.] + + [Footnote 64: “Goethe’s Briefe an Frau von Stein,” hrsg. von Adolf + Schöll; 2te Aufl, bearbeitet von W. Fielitz, Frankfurt-am-Main, + 1883, Vol. I, p. 276.] + + [Footnote 65: References to the Tagebücher are as follows: Robert + Keil’s Leipzig, 1875, p. 107, and Düntzer’s, Leipzig, 1889, + p. 73.] + + [Footnote 66: See also the same author’s “Goethe, sa vie et ses + oeuvres,” Paris, 1866; Appendice pp. 291-298. Further literature + is found: “Vergleichende Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung,” + 1863, No. 36, and 1869, Nos. 10 and 14. _Morgenblatt_, 1863, + Nr. 39, article by Alex. Büchner, Sterne’s “Coran und Makariens + Archiv, Goethe ein Plagiator?” and _Deutsches Museum_, 1867, + No. 690.] + + [Footnote 67: Minden i. W., 1885, pp. 330-336.] + + [Footnote 68: “Druck vollendet in Mai” according to Baumgartner, + III, p. 292.] + + [Footnote 69: II, pp. 230-233. May 15, 1831.] + + [Footnote 70: Goedeke gives Vol. XXIII, A. l. H. as 1829.] + + [Footnote 71: Hempel, XIX, “Sprüche in Prosa,” edited by G. von + Loeper, Maximen und Reflexionen; pp. 106-111 and 113-117.] + + [Footnote 72: Letters, I, p. 54.] + + [Footnote 73: This seems very odd in view of the fact that in + Loeper’s edition of “Dichtung und Wahrheit” (Hempel, XXII, p. 264) + Gellius is referred to as “the translator of Lillo and Sterne.” It + must be that Loeper did not know that Gellius’s “Yorick’s + Nachgelassene Werke” was a translation of the Koran.] + + [Footnote 74: The problem involved in the story of Count Gleichen + was especially sympathetic to the feeling of the eighteenth + century. See a series of articles by Fr. Heibig in _Magazin für + Litteratur des In- und Auslandes_, Vol. 60, pp. 102-5; 120-2; + 136-9. “Zur Geschichte des Problems des Grafen von Gleichen.”] + + [Footnote 75: Weimar edition, Vol. XLI, 2, pp. 252-253.] + + [Footnote 76: Gesammelte Schriften, Stuttgart, 1839, IV, pp. + 272-3.] + + [Footnote 77: Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1775. See _Gothaische Gel. + Zeitungen_, 1776, I, pp. 208-9, and _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, + XXXII, 1, p. 139. _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_, + September 27, 1776. This does not imply that Sterne was in this + respect an innovator; such books were printed before Sterne’s + influence was felt, _e.g._, _Magazin von Einfällen_, Breslau, 1763 + (?), reviewed in _Leipziger Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, + February 20, 1764. See also “Reisen im Vaterlande,--Kein Roman + aber ziemlich theatralisch-politisch und satyrischen Inhalts,” two + volumes; Königsberg and Leipzig, 1793-4, reviewed in _Allg. Litt. + Zeitung_, 1795, III, p. 30. “Der Tändler, oder Streifereyen in die + Wildnisse der Einbildungskraft, in die Werke der Natur und + menschlichen Sitten,” Leipzig, 1778 (?), (_Almanach der deutschen + Musen_, 1779, p. 48). “Meine Geschichte oder Begebenheiten des + Herrn Thomas: ein narkotisches Werk des Doktor Pifpuf,” Münster + und Leipzig, 1772, pp. 231, 8vo. A strange episodical + conglomerate; see _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, II, p. 135.] + + [Footnote 78: Leipzig, 1785 or 1786. See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, + 1786, III, p. 259.] + + [Footnote 79: Altenburg, 1772, by von Schirach (?).] + + [Footnote 80: See _Auserlesene Bibl. der neuesten deutschen + Litteratur_, IV, pp. 320-325, and VII, pp. 227-234. _Allg. + deutsche Bibl._, XXIII, 1, p. 258; XXVI, 1, p. 209.] + + [Footnote 81: Riedel uses it, for example, in his “Launen an + meinen Satyr,” speaking of “mein swiftisch Steckenthier” in + “Vermischte Aufsätze,” reviewed in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1772, + pp. 358-9. _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, I, pp. 290-293.] + + [Footnote 82: “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Marianne Willemer + (Suleika).” Edited by Th. Creizenach, 2d edition; Stuttgart, 1878, + p. 290.] + + [Footnote 83: “K. L. von Knebel’s literarischer Nachlass und + Briefwechsel;” edited by Varnhagen von Ense and Th. Mundt, + Leipzig, 1835, p. 147.] + + [Footnote 84: See Mendelssohn’s Schriften; edited by G. B. + Mendelssohn, Leipzig, 1844, V, p. 202. See also letter of + Mendelssohn to Lessing, February 18, 1780.] + + [Footnote 85: Third edition, Berlin and Stettin, 1788, p. 14.] + + [Footnote 86: II, pp. 218 ff.] + + [Footnote 87: II, 2, p. 127.] + + [Footnote 88: These two cases are mentioned also by Riemann in + “Goethe’s Romantechnik.”] + + [Footnote 89: See _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, May 8, 1772, p. 296.] + + [Footnote 90: III, pp. 276 ff.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IMITATORS OF STERNE + + +Among the disciples of Sterne in Germany whose literary imitation may be +regarded as typical of their master’s influence, Johann Georg Jacobi is +perhaps the best known. His relation to the famous “Lorenzodosen” +conceit is sufficient to link his name with that of Yorick. Martin[1] +asserts that he was called “Uncle Toby” in Gleim’s circle because of his +enthusiasm for Sterne. The indebtedness of Jacobi to Sterne is the +subject of a special study by Dr. Joseph Longo, “Laurence Sterne und +Johann Georg Jacobi;” and the period of Jacobi’s literary work which +falls under the spell of Yorick has also been treated in an inaugural +dissertation, “Ueber Johann Georg Jacobi’s Jugendwerke,” by Georg +Ransohoff. The detail of Jacobi’s indebtedness to Sterne is to be found +in these two works. + +Longo was unable to settle definitely the date of Jacobi’s first +acquaintance with Sterne. The first mention made of him is in the letter +to Gleim of April 4, 1769, and a few days afterward,--April 10,--the +intelligence is afforded that he himself is working on a “journey.” The +“Winterreise” was published at Düsseldorf in the middle of June, 1769. +Externally the work seems more under the influence of the French +wanderer Chapelle, since prose and verse are used irregularly +alternating, a style quite different from the English model. There are +short and unnumbered chapters, as in the Sentimental Journey, but, +unlike Sterne, Jacobi, with one exception, names no places and makes no +attempt at description of place or people, other than the sentimental +individuals encountered on the way. He makes no analysis of national, or +even local characteristics: the journey, in short, is almost completely +without place-influence. There is in the volume much more exuberance of +fancy, grotesque at times, a more conscious exercise of the picturing +imagination than we find in Sterne. There is use, too, of mythological +figures quite foreign to Sterne, an obvious reminiscence of Jacobi’s +Anacreontic experience. He exaggerates Yorick’s sentimentalism, is more +weepy, more tender, more sympathizing; yet, as Longo does not +sufficiently emphasize, he does not touch the whimsical side of Yorick’s +work. Jacobi, unlike his model, but in common with other German +imitators, is insistent in instruction and serious in contention for pet +theories, as is exemplified by the discussion of the doctrine of +immortality. There are opinions to be maintained, there is a message to +be delivered. Jacobi in this does not give the lie to his nationality. + +Like other German imitators, too, he took up with especial feeling the +relations between man and the animal world, an attitude to be connected +with several familiar episodes in Sterne.[2] The two chapters, “Der +Heerd” and “Der Taubenschlag,” tell of a sentimental farmer who mourns +over the fact that his son has cut down a tree in which the nightingale +was wont to nest. A similar sentimental regard is cherished in this +family for the doves, which no one killed, because no one could eat +them. Even as Yorick meets a Franciscan, Jacobi encounters a Jesuit +whose heart leaps to meet his own, and later, after the real journey is +done, a visit to a lonely cloister gives opportunity for converse with a +monk, like Pater Lorenzo,--tender, simple and humane. + +The “Sommerreise,” according to Longo, appeared in the latter part of +September, 1769, a less important work, which, in the edition of 1807, +Jacobi considered unworthy of preservation. Imitation of Sterne is +marked: following a criticism by Wieland the author attempts to be +humorous, but with dubious success; he introduces a Sterne-like +sentimental character which had not been used in the “Winterreise,” +a beggar-soldier, and he repeats the motif of human sympathy for animals +in the story of the lamb. Sympathy with erring womanhood is expressed in +the incidents related in “Die Fischerhütte” and “Der Geistliche.” These +two books were confessedly inspired by Yorick, and contemporary +criticism treated them as Yorick products. The _Deutsche Bibliothek der +schönen Wissenschaften_, published by Jacobi’s friend Klotz, would +naturally favor the volumes. Its review of the “Winterreise” is +non-critical and chiefly remarkable for the denial of foreign imitation. +The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[3] in reviewing the same work pays +a significant tribute to Sterne, praising his power of disclosing the +good and beautiful in the seemingly commonplace. In direct criticism of +the book, the reviewer calls it a journey of fancy, the work of a +youthful poet rather than that of a sensitive philosopher. Wieland is +credited with the astounding opinion that he prefers the “Sommerreise” +to Yorick’s journey.[4] Longo’s characterization of Sterne is in the +main satisfactory, yet there is distinctly traceable the tendency to +ignore or minimize the whimsical elements of Sterne’s work: this is the +natural result of his approach to Sterne, through Jacobi, who understood +only the sentimentalism of the English master.[5] + +Among the works of sentiment which were acknowledged imitations of +Yorick, along with Jacobi’s “Winterreise,” probably the most typical and +best known was the “Empfindsame Reisen durch Deutschland” by Johann +Gottlieb Schummel. Its importance as a document in the history of +sentimentalism is rather as an example of tendency than as a force +contributing materially to the spread of the movement. Its influence was +probably not great, though one reviewer does hint at a following.[6] Yet +the book has been remembered more persistently than any other work of +its genre, except Jacobi’s works, undoubtedly in part because it was +superior to many of its kind, partly, also, because its author won later +and maintained a position of some eminence, as a writer and a pedagogue; +but largely because Goethe’s well-known review of it in the _Frankfurter +Gelehrte Anzeigen_ has been cited as a remarkably acute contribution to +the discriminating criticism of the genuine and the affected in the +eighteenth-century literature of feeling, and has drawn attention from +the very fact of its source to the object of its criticism. + +Schummel was born in May, 1748, and hence was but twenty years of age +when Germany began to thrill in response to Yorick’s sentiments. It is +probable that the first volume was written while Schummel was still a +university student in 1768-1770. He assumed a position as teacher in +1771, but the first volume came out at Easter of that year; this would +probably throw its composition back into the year before. The second +volume appeared at Michaelmas of the same year. His publisher was +Zimmermann at Wittenberg and Zerbst, and the first volume at any rate +was issued in a new edition. The third volume came out in the spring of +1772.[7] Schummel’s title, “Empfindsame Reisen,” is, of course, taken +from the newly coined word in Bode’s title, but in face of this fact it +is rather remarkable to find that several quotations from Sterne’s +Journey, given in the course of the work, are from the Mittelstedt +translation. On two occasions, indeed, Schummel uses the title of the +Mittelstedt rendering as first published, “Versuch über die menschliche +Natur.”[8] + +These facts lead one to believe that Schummel drew his inspiration from +the reading of this translation. This is interesting in connection with +Böttiger’s claim that the whole cavalcade of sentimental travelers who +trotted along after Yorick with all sorts of animals and vehicles was a +proof of the excellence and power of Bode’s translation. As one would +naturally infer from the title of Schummel’s fiction, the Sentimental +Journey is more constantly drawn upon as a source of ideas, motifs, +expression, and method, than Tristram Shandy, but the allusions to +Sterne’s earlier book, and the direct adaptations from it are both +numerous and generous. This fact has not been recognized by the critics, +and is not an easy inference from the contemporary reviews. + +The book is the result of an immediate impulse to imitation felt +irresistibly on the reading of Sterne’s narrative. That the critics and +readers of that day treated with serious consideration the efforts of a +callow youth of twenty or twenty-one in this direction is indicative +either of comparative vigor of execution, or of prepossession of the +critical world in favor of the literary genre,--doubtless of both. +Schummel confesses that the desire to write came directly after the book +had been read. “I had just finished reading it,” he says, “and Heaven +knows with what pleasure, every word from ‘as far as this matter is +concerned’ on to ‘I seized the hand of the lady’s maid,’ were imprinted +in my soul with small invisible letters.” The characters of the Journey +stood “life-size in his very soul.” Involuntarily his inventive powers +had sketched several plans for a continuation, releasing Yorick from the +hand of the _fille de chambre_. But what he attempts is not a +continuation but a German parallel. + +In the outward events of his story, in the general trend of its +argument, Schummel does not depend upon either Shandy or the Journey: +the hero’s circumstances are in general not traceable to the English +model, but, spasmodically, the manner of narration and the nature of the +incidents are quite slavishly copied. A complete summary of the thread +of incident on which the various sentimental adventures, whimsical +speculations and digressions are hung, can be dispensed with: it is only +necessary to note instances where connection with Sterne as a model can +be established. Schummel’s narrative is often for many successive pages +absolutely straightforward and simple, unbroken by any attempt at +Shandean buoyancy, and unblemished by overwrought sentiment. At the +pausing places he generally indulges in Sternesque quibbling. + +A brief analysis of the first volume, with especial reference to the +appropriation of Yorick features, will serve to show the extent of +imitation, and the nature of the method. In outward form the Sentimental +Journey is copied. The volume is not divided into chapters, but there +are named divisions: there is also Yorick-like repetition of +section-headings. Naturally the author attempts at the very beginning to +strike a note distinctly suggesting Sterne: “Is he dead, the old +cousin?” are the first words of the volume, uttered by the hero on +receipt of the news, and in Yorick fashion he calls for guesses +concerning the mien with which the words were said. The conversation of +the various human passions with Yorick concerning the advisability of +offering the lady in Calais a seat in his chaise is here directly +imitated in the questions put by avarice, vanity, etc., concerning the +cousin’s death. The actual journey does not begin until page 97, a brief +autobiography of the hero occupying the first part of the book; this +inconsequence is confessedly intended to be a Tristram Shandy whim.[9] +The author’s relation to his parents is adapted directly from Shandy, +since he here possesses an incapable, unpractical, philosophizing +father, who determines upon methods for the superior education of his +son; and a simple, silly mockery of a mother. + +Left, however, an orphan, he begins his sentimental adventures: thrust +on the world he falls in with a kindly baker’s wife whose conduct toward +him brings tears to the eyes of the ten-year old lad, this showing his +early appetite for sentimental journeying. A large part of this first +section relating to his early life and youthful struggles, his kindly +benefactor, his adventure with Potiphar’s wife, is simple and direct, +with only an occasional hint of Yorick’s influence in word or phrase, as +if the author, now and then, recalled the purpose and the inspiration. +For example, not until near the bottom of page 30 does it occur to him +to be abrupt and indulge in Shandean eccentricities, and then again, +after a few lines, he resumes the natural order of discourse. And again, +on page 83, he breaks off into attempted frivolity and Yorick +whimsicality of narration. In starting out upon his journey the author +says: “I will tread in Yorick’s foot-prints, what matters it if I do not +fill them out? My heart is not so broad as his, the sooner can it be +filled; my head is not so sound; my brain not so regularly formed. My +eyes are not so clear, but for that he was born in England and I in +Germany; he is a man and I am but a youth, in short, he is Yorick and I +am not Yorick.” He determines to journey where it is most sentimental +and passes the various lands in review in making his decision. Having +fastened upon Germany, he questions himself similarly with reference to +the cities. Yorick’s love of lists, of mock-serious discrimination, of +inconsequential reasonings is here copied. The call upon epic, tragic, +lyric poets, musicians, etc., which follows here is a further imitation +of Yorick’s list-making and pseudo-scientific method. + +On his way to Leipzig, in the post-chaise, the author falls in with a +clergyman: the manner of this meeting is intended to be Sterne-like: +Schummel sighs, the companion remarks, “You too are an unhappy one,” and +they join hands while the human heart beams in the traveler’s eyes. They +weep too at parting. But, apart from these external incidents of their +meeting, the matter of their converse is in no way inspired by Sterne. +It joins itself with the narrative of the author’s visit to a church in +a village by the wayside, and deals in general with the nature of the +clergyman’s relation to his people and the general mediocrity and +ineptitude of the average homiletical discourse, the failure of +clergymen to relate their pulpit utterance to the life of the common +Christian,--all of which is genuine, sane and original, undoubtedly a +real protest on the part of Schummel, the pedagogue, against a +prevailing abuse of his time and other times. This section represents +unquestionably the earnest convictions of its author, and is written +with professional zeal. This division is followed by an evidently +purposeful return to Sterne’s eccentricity of manner. The author begins +a division of his narrative, “Der zerbrochene Postwagen,” which is +probably meant to coincide with the post-chaise accident in Shandy’s +travels, writes a few lines in it, then begins the section again, +something like the interrupted story of the King of Bohemia and his +Seven Castles. Then follows an abrupt discursive study of his aptitudes +and proclivities, interspersed with Latin exclamations, interrogation +points and dashes. “What a parenthesis is that!” he cries, and a few +lines further on, “I burn with longing to begin a parenthesis again.” On +his arrival in Leipzig, Schummel imitates closely Sterne’s satirical +guide-book description of Calais[10] in his brief account of the city, +breaking off abruptly like Sterne, and roundly berating all +“Reisebeschreiber.” Here in fitting contrast with this superficial +enumeration of facts stands his brief traveler’s creed, an interest in +people rather than in places, all of which is derived from Sterne’s +chapter, “In the Street, Calais,” in which the master discloses the +sentimental possibilities of traveling and typifies the superficial, +unemotional wanderer in the persons of Smelfungus and Mundungus, and +from the familiar passage in “The Passport, Versailles,” beginning, “But +I could wish to spy out the nakedness, etc.” No sooner is he arrived in +Leipzig, than he accomplishes a sentimental rescue of an unfortunate +woman on the street. In the expression of her immediate needs, Schummel +indulges for the first time in a row of stars, with the obvious +intention of raising a low suggestion, which he contradicts with +mock-innocent questionings a few lines later, thereby fastening the +attention on the possibility of vulgar interpretation. Sterne is guilty +of this device in numerous instances in both his works, and the English +continuation of the Sentimental Journey relies upon it in greater and +more revolting measure. + +Once established in his hotel, the author betakes himself to the +theater: this very act he feels will bring upon him the censure of the +critics, for Yorick went to the theater too. “A merchant’s boy went +along before me,” he says in naïve defense, “was he also an imitator of +Yorick?” On the way he meets a fair maid-in-waiting, and the relation +between her and the traveler, developed here and later, is inspired +directly by Yorick’s connection with the fair _fille de chambre_. +Schummel imitates Sterne’s excessive detail of description, devoting a +whole paragraph to his manner of removing his hat before a lady whom he +encounters on this walk to the theater. This was another phase of +Sterne’s pseudo-scientific method: he describes the trivial with the +attitude of the trained observer, registering minutely the detail of +phenomena, a mock-parade of scholarship illustrated by his description +of Trim’s attitude while reading his sermon, or the dropping of the hat +in the kitchen during the memorable scene when the news of Bobby’s death +is brought. + +In Schummel’s narration of his adventures in the house of ill-repute +there are numerous sentimental excrescences in his conduct with the poor +prisoner there, due largely to Yorick’s pattern, such as their weeping +on one another’s breast, and his wiping away her tears and his, drawn +from Yorick’s amiable service for Maria of Moulines, an act seemingly +expressing the most refined human sympathy. The remaining events of this +first volume include an unexpected meeting with the kind baker’s wife, +which takes place at Gellert’s grave. Yorick’s imitators were especially +fond of re-introducing a sentimental relationship. Yorick led the way in +his renewed acquaintance with the _fille de chambre_; Stevenson in his +continuation went to extremes in exploiting this cheap device. + +Other motifs derived from Sterne, less integral, may be briefly +summarized. From the Sentimental Journey is taken the motif that +valuable or interesting papers be used to wrap ordinary articles of +trade: here herring are wrapped in fragments of the father’s philosophy; +in the Sentimental Journey we find a similar degrading use for the +“Fragment.” Schummel breaks off the chapter “La Naïve,”[11] under the +Sternesque subterfuge of having to deliver manuscript to an insistent +publisher. Yorick writes his preface to the Journey in the +“Désobligeant,” that is, in the midst of the narrative itself. Schummel +modifies the eccentricity merely by placing his foreword at the end of +the volume. The value of it, he says, will repay the reader for waiting +so long,--a statement which finds little justification in the preface +itself. It begins, “Auweh! Auweh! Ouais, Helas! . . . Diable, mein +Rücken, mein Fuss!” and so on for half a page,--a pitiful effort to +follow the English master’s wilful and skilful incoherence. The +following pages, however, once this outbreak is at an end, contain a +modicum of sense, the feeble, apologetic explanation of his desire in +imitating Yorick, given in forethought of the critics’ condemnation. +Similarly the position of the dedication is unusual, in the midst of the +volume, even as the dedication of Shandy was roguishly delayed. The +dedication itself, however, is not an imitation of Sterne’s clever +satire, but, addressed to Yorick himself, is a striking example of +burning personal devotion and over-wrought praise. Schummel hopes[12] in +Sterne fashion to write a chapter on “Vorübergeben,” or in the chapter +“Das Komödienhaus” (pp. 185-210) to write a digression on “Walking +behind a maid.” Like Sterne, he writes in praise of digressions.[13] In +imitation of Sterne is conceived the digressive speculation concerning +the door through which at the beginning of the book he is cast into the +rude world. Among further expressions savoring of Sterne, may be +mentioned a “Centner of curses” (p. 39), a “Quentchen of curses,” and +the analytical description of a tone of voice as one-fourth questioning, +five-eighths entreating and one-eighth commanding (p. 229). + +The direct allusions to Sterne and his works are numerous. A list of +Sterne characters which were indelibly impressed upon his mind is found +near the very beginning (pp. 3-4); other allusions are to M. Dessein +(p. 65), La Fleur’s “Courierstiefel” (p. 115), the words of the dying +Yorick (p. 128), the pococurantism of Mrs. Shandy (p. 187), the division +of travelers into types (p. 141), Uncle Toby (p. 200), Yorick’s +violin-playing (p. 274), the foolish fat scullion (p. 290), Yorick’s +description of a maid’s (p. 188) eyes, “als ob sie zwischen vier Wänden +einem Garaus machen könnten.” + +The second volume is even more incoherent in narration, and contains +less genuine occurrence and more ill-considered attempts at +whimsicality, yet throughout this volume there are indications that the +author is awakening to the vulnerability of his position, and this is in +no other particular more easily discernible than in the half-hearted +defiance of the critics and his anticipation of their censure. The +change, so extraordinary in the third volume, is foreshadowed in the +second. Purely sentimental, effusive, and abundantly teary is the story +of the rescued baker’s wife. In this excess of sentiment, Schummel shows +his intellectual appreciation of Sterne’s individual treatment of the +humane and pathetic, for near the end of the poor woman’s narrative the +author seems to recollect a fundamental sentence of Sterne’s creed, the +inevitable admixture of the whimsical, and here he introduces into the +sentimental relation a Shandean idiosyncrasy: from page 43 the narrative +leaps back to the beginning of the volume, and Schummel advises the +reader to turn back and re-read, referring incidentally to his confused +fashion of narration. The awkwardness with which this is done proves +Schummel’s inability to follow Yorick, though its use shows his +appreciation of Sterne’s peculiar genius. The visit of the author, the +baker’s wife and her daughter (the former lady’s maid) to the graveyard +is Yorickian in flavor, and the plucking of nettles from the grave of +the dead epileptic is a direct borrowing. Attempts to be immorally, +sensuously suggestive in the manner of Sterne are found in the so-called +chapter on “Button-holes,” here cast in a more Shandean vein, and in the +adventure “die ängstliche Nacht,”--in the latter case resembling more +the less frank, more insinuating method of the Sentimental Journey. The +sentimental attitude toward man’s dumb companions is imitated in his +adventure with the house-dog; the author fears the barking of this +animal may disturb the sleep of the poor baker’s wife: he beats the dog +into silence, then grows remorseful and wishes “that I had given him no +blow,” or that the dog might at least give him back the blows. His +thought that the dog might be pretending its pain, he designates a +subtle subterfuge of his troubled conscience, and Goethe, in the review +mentioned above, exclaims, “A fine pendant to Yorick’s scene with the +Monk.” + +Distinctly Shandean are the numerous digressions, as on imitation +(p. 16), on authors and fairs (p. 45), that which he calls (pp. 226-238) +“ein ganz originelles Gemische von Wiz, Belesenheit, Scharfsinn, +gesunder Philosophie, Erfahrung, Algebra und Mechanik,” or (p. 253) “Von +der Entstehungsart eines Buches nach Erfindung der Buchdrukerkunst,” +which in reference to Sterne’s phrase, is called a “jungfräuliche +Materie.” He promises (pp. 75 and 108), like Sterne, to write numerous +chapters on extraordinary subjects,--indeed, he announces his intention +of supplementing the missing sections of Shandy on “Button-holes” and on +the “Right and Left (sic) end of a Woman.” His own promised effusions +are to be “Ueber die roten und schwarzen Röcke,” “über die Verbindung +der Theologie mit Schwarz,” “Europäischenfrauenzimmerschuhabsätze,” half +a one “Ueber die Schuhsohlen” and “Ueber meinen Namen.” + +His additions to Shandy are flat and witless, that on the “Right and +Wrong End of a Woman” (pp. 88 ff.) degenerating into three brief +narratives displaying woman’s susceptibility to flattery, the whole idea +probably adapted from Sterne’s chapter, “An Act of Charity;” the chapter +on “Button-holes” is made a part of the general narrative of his +relation to his “Naïve.” Weakly whimsical is his seeking pardon for the +discourse with which the Frenchman (pp. 62-66), under the pretext that +it belonged somewhere else and had inadvertently crept in. Shandean also +is the black margin to pages 199-206, the line upside down (p. 175), +the twelve irregularly printed lines (p. 331), inserted to indicate his +efforts in writing with a burned hand, the lines of dashes and +exclamation points, the mathematical, financial calculation of the worth +of his book from various points of view, and the description of the +maiden’s walk (p. 291). Sterne’s mock-scientific method, as already +noted, is observable again in the statement of the position of the +dagger “at an angle of 30°” (p. 248). His coining of new words, for +which he is censured by the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_, is also a +legacy of Yorick’s method. + +The third volume bears little relation to Sterne aside from its title, +and one can only wonder, in view of the criticism of the two parts +already published and the nature of the author’s own partial revulsion +of feeling, that he did not give up publishing it altogether, or choose +another title, and sunder the work entirely from the foregoing volumes, +with which it has in fact so contradictory a connection. It may be that +his relations to the publisher demanded the issuing of the third part +under the same title. + +This volume is easily divisible into several distinct parts, which are +linked with one another, and to the preceding narrative, only by a +conventional thread of introduction. These comprise: the story of +Caroline and Rosenfeld, a typical eighteenth century tale of love, +seduction and flight; the hosts’ ballad, “Es war einmahl ein Edelmann;” +the play, “Die unschuldige Ehebrecherin” and “Mein Tagebuch,” the +journal of an honest preacher, and a further sincere exploitation of +Schummel’s ideas upon the clergyman’s office, his ideal of simplicity, +kindliness, and humanity. In the latter part of the book Schummel +resumes his original narrative, and indulges once more in the luxury of +sentimental adventure, but without the former abortive attempts at +imitating Sterne’s peculiarities of diction. This last resumption of the +sentimental creed introduces to us one event evidently inspired by +Yorick: he meets a poor, maimed soldier-beggar. Since misfortune has +deprived the narrator himself of his possessions, he can give nothing +and goes a begging for the beggar’s sake, introducing the new and highly +sentimental idea of “vicarious begging” (pp. 268-9). In the following +episode, a visit to a child-murderess, Schummel leaves a page entirely +blank as an appropriate proof of incapacity to express his emotions +attendant on the execution of the unfortunate. Sterne also left a page +blank for the description of the Widow Wadman’s charms. + +At the very end of the book Schummel drops his narrative altogether and +discourses upon his own work. It would be difficult to find in any +literature so complete a condemnation of one’s own serious and extensive +endeavor, so candid a criticism of one’s own work, so frank an +acknowledgment of the pettiness of one’s achievement. He says his work, +as an imitation of Sterne’s two novels, has “few or absolutely no +beauties of the original, and many faults of its own.” He states that +his enthusiasm for Tristram has been somewhat dampened by Sonnenfels and +Riedel; he sees now faults which should not have been imitated; the +frivolous attitude of the narrator toward his father and mother is +deprecated, and the suggestion is given that this feature was derived +from Tristram’s own frankness concerning the eccentricities and +incapacities of his parents. He begs reference to a passage in the +second volume[14] where the author alludes with warmth of appreciation +to his real father and mother; that is, genuine regard overcame the +temporary blindness, real affection arose and thrust out the transitory +inclination to an alien whimsicality. + +Schummel admits that he has utterly failed in his effort to characterize +the German people in the way Sterne treated the English and French; he +confesses that the ninety-page autobiography which precedes the journey +itself was intended to be Tristram-like, but openly stigmatizes his own +failure as “ill conceived, incoherent and not very well told!” After +mentioning some few incidents and passages in this first section which +he regards as passable, he boldly condemns the rest as “almost beneath +all criticism,” and the same words are used with reference to much that +follows, in which he confesses to imitation, bad taste and intolerable +indelicacy. He calls his pathetic attempts at whimsical mannerisms +(Heideldum, etc.), “kläglich, überaus kläglich,” expresses the opinion +that one would not be surprised at the reader who would throw away the +whole book at such a passage. The words of the preacher in the two +sections where he is allowed to air his opinions still meet with his +approval, and the same is true of one or two other sections. In +conclusion, he states that the first part contains hardly one hundred +good pages, and that the second part is worse than the first, so that he +is unwilling to look at it again and seek out its faults. The absence of +allusions to Sterne’s writings is marked, except in the critical section +at the end, he mentions Sterne but once (p. 239), where he calls him +“schnurrigt.” This alteration of feeling must have taken place in a +brief space of time, for the third volume is signed April 25, 1772. It +is not easy to establish with probability the works of Sonnenfels and +Riedel which are credited with a share in this revulsion of feeling. + +In all of this Schummel is a discriminating critic of his own work; he +is also discerning in his assertion that the narrative contained in his +volume is conceived more in the vein of Fielding and Richardson. The +Sterne elements are rather embroidered on to the other fabric, or, as he +himself says, using another figure, “only fried in Shandy fat.”[15] + +Goethe’s criticism of the second volume, already alluded to, is found in +the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ in the issue of March 3, 1772. The +nature of the review is familiar: Goethe calls the book a thistle which +he has found on Yorick’s grave. “Alles,” he says, “hat es dem guten +Yorick geraubt, Speer, Helm und Lanze, nur Schade! inwendig steckt der +Herr Präceptor S. zu Magdeburg . . . Yorick empfand, und dieser setzt +sich hin zu empfinden. Yorick wird von seiner Laune ergriffen, und +weinte und lachte in einer Minute und durch die Magie der Sympathie +lachen und weinen wir mit: hier aber steht einer und überlegt: wie lache +und weine ich? was werden die Leute sagen, wenn ich lache und weine?” +etc. Schummel is stigmatized as a childish imitator and his book is +censured as “beneath criticism,” oddly enough the very judgment its own +author accords but a few weeks later on the completion of the third +volume. The review contains several citations illustrative of Schummel’s +style. + +The first two parts were reviewed in the _Allgemeine deutsche +Bibliothek_.[16] The length of the review is testimony to the interest +in the book, and the tone of the article, though frankly unfavorable, +is not so emphatically censorious as the one first noted. It is observed +that Schummel has attempted the impossible,--the adoption of another’s +“Laune,” and hence his failure. The reviewer notes, often with generous +quotations, the more noticeable, direct imitations from Sterne, the +conversation of the emotions, the nettle-plucking at the grave, the +eccentric orthography and the new-coined words. Several passages of +comment or comparison testify to the then current admiration of Yorick, +and the conventional German interpretation of his character; “sein +gutes, empfindungsvolles Herz, mit Tugend und sittlichem Gefühl +erfüllt.” The review is signed “Sr:”[17] + +A critic in the _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ for January +17, 1772, treating the first two volumes, expresses the opinion that +Jacobi, the author of the “Tagereise,” and Schummel have little but the +title from Yorick. The author’s seeking for opportunity to dissolve in +emotion is contrasted unfavorably with Yorick’s method, the affected +style is condemned, yet it is admitted that the work promises better +things from its talented author; his power of observation and his good +heart are not to be unacknowledged. The severity of the review is +directed against the imitators already arising. + +The _Magazin der deutschen Critik_[18] reviews the third volume with +favorable comment; the comedy which Schummel saw fit to insert is +received with rather extraordinary praise, and the author is urged to +continue work in the drama; a desire is expressed even for a fourth +part. The _Hamburgische Neue Zeitung_, June 4 and October 29, 1771, +places Schummel unhesitatingly beside the English master, calls him as +original as his pattern, to Sterne belongs the honor only of the +invention. The author is hailed as a genius whose talents should be +supported, so that Germany would not have to envy England her +Yorick.[19] + +After Schummel’s remarkable self-chastisement, one could hardly expect +to find in his subsequent works evidence of Sterne’s influence, save as +unconsciously a dimmed admiration might exert a certain force. Probably +contemporaneous with the composition of the third volume of the work, +but possibly earlier, Schummel wrote the fourth part of a ponderous +novel by a fellow Silesian, Christian Opitz, entitled “Die Gleichheit +der menschlichen Herzen, bey der Ungleichheit ihrer äusserlichen +Umstände in der Geschichte Herrn Redlichs und seiner Bedienten.” Goedeke +implies that Opitz was the author of all but the last part, but the +reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[20] maintains that each +part has a different author, and quotes the preface to the fourth as +substantiation. According to this review both the second and fourth +parts are characterized by a humorous fashion in writing, and the last +is praised as being the best of the four. It seems probable that +Schummel’s enthusiasm for Sterne played its part in the composition of +this work. + +Possibly encouraged by the critic’s approbation, Schummel devoted his +literary effort for the following years largely to the drama. In 1774 he +published his “Uebersetzer-Bibliothek zum Gebrauche der Uebersetzer, +Schulmänner und Liebhaber der alten Litteratur.” The reviewer[21] in the +_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ finds passages in this book in which +the author of the “Empfindsame Reisen” is visible,--where his fancy runs +away with his reason,--and a passage is quoted in which reference is +made to Slawkenberg’s book on noses. It would seem that the seeking for +wit survived the crude sentimentality. + +Two years later Schummel published “Fritzen’s Reise nach Dessau,”[22] +a work composed of letters from a twelve-year old boy, written on a +journey from Magdeburg to Dessau. The letters are quite without whim or +sentiment, and the book has been remembered for the extended description +of Basedow’s experimental school, “Philantropin” (opened in 1774). Its +account has been the source of the information given of this endeavor in +some pedagogical treatises[23] and it was re-issued, as a document in +the history of pedagogical experiment, in Leipzig, by Albert Richter in +1891. About fifteen years later still the “Reise durch Schlesien”[24] +was issued. It is a simple narrative of a real journey with description +of places and people, frankly personal, almost epistolary in form, +without a suggestion of Sterne-like whim or sentiment. One passage is +significant as indicating the author’s realization of his change of +attitude. The sight of a group of prisoners bound by a chain calls to +his memory his former sentimental extravagance, and he exclaims: “Twenty +years ago, when I was still a sentimental traveler, I would have wasted +many an ‘Oh’ and ‘alas’ over this scene; at present, since I have +learned to know the world and mankind somewhat more intimately, I think +otherwise.” + +Johann Christian Bock (1724-1785), who was in 1772 theater-poet of the +Ackerman Company in Hamburg, soon after the publication of the +Sentimental Journey, identified himself with the would-be Yoricks by the +production of “Die Tagereise,” which was published at Leipzig in 1770. +The work was re-issued in 1775 with the new title “Die Geschichte eines +empfundenen Tages.”[25] The only change in the new edition was the +addition of a number of copperplate engravings. The book is inspired in +part by Sterne directly, and in part indirectly through the intermediary +Jacobi. Unlike the work of Schummel just treated, it betrays no Shandean +influence, but is dependent solely on the Sentimental Journey. In +outward form the book resembles Jacobi’s “Winterreise,” since verse is +introduced to vary the prose narrative. The attitude of the author +toward his journey, undertaken with conscious purpose, is characteristic +of the whole set of emotional sentiment-seekers, who found in their +Yorick a challenge to go and do likewise: “Everybody is journeying, +I thought, and took Yorick and Jacobi with me. . . . I will really see +whether I too may not chance upon a _fille de chambre_ or a +harvest-maid,” is a very significant statement of his inspiration and +intention. Once started on his journey, the author falls in with a poor +warrior-beggar, an adaptation of Sterne’s Chevalier de St. Louis,[26] +and he puts in verse Yorick’s expressed sentiment that the king and the +fatherland should not allow the faithful soldier to fall into such +distress. + +Bock’s next sentimental adventure is with a fair peasant-maid whom he +sees weeping by the wayside. Through Yorick-like insistence of sympathy, +he finally wins from her information concerning the tender situation: +a stern stepfather, an unwelcome suitor of his choosing, and a lover of +her own. Her inability to write and thus communicate with the latter is +the immediate cause of the present overflow. The traveler beholds in +this predicament a remarkable sentimental opportunity and offers his +services; he strokes her cheek, her tears are dried, and they part like +brother and sister. The episode is unquestionably inspired by the +episode of Maria of Moulines; in the latter development of the affair, +the sentiment, which is expressed, that the girl’s innocence is her own +defense is borrowed directly from Yorick’s statement concerning the +_fille de chambre_.[27] The traveler’s questioning of his own motives in +“Die Ueberlegung”[28] is distinctly Sterne-like, and it demonstrates +also Bock’s appreciation of this quizzical element in Yorick’s attitude +toward his own sentimental behavior. The relation of man to the domestic +animals is treated sentimentally in the episode of the old beggar and +his dead dog:[29] the tears of the beggar, his affection for the beast, +their genuine comradeship, and the dog’s devotion after the world had +forsaken his master, are all part and parcel of that fantastic humane +movement which has its source in Yorick’s dead ass. Bock practically +confesses his inspiration by direct allusion to the episode in Yorick. +Bock defends with warmth the old peasant and his grief. + +The wanderer’s acquaintance with the lady’s companion[30] is adapted +from Yorick’s _fille de chambre_ connection, and Bock cannot avoid a +fleshly suggestion, distinctly in the style of Yorick in the section, +the “Spider.”[31] The return journey in the sentimental moonlight +affords the author another opportunity for the exercise of his broad +human sympathy: he meets a poor woman, a day-laborer with her child, +gives them a few coins and doubts whether king or bishop could be more +content with the benediction of the apostolic chair than he with the +blessing of this unfortunate,--a sentiment derived from Yorick’s +overcolored veneration for the horn snuff-box. + +The churchyard scene with which the journey ends is more openly +fanciful, down-right visionary in tone, but the manner is very +emphatically not that of Sterne, though in the midst the Sterne motif of +nettle-plucking is introduced. This sentimental episode took hold of +German imagination with peculiar force. The hobby-horse idea also was +sure of its appeal, and Bock did not fail to fall under its spell.[32] + +But apart from the general impulse and borrowing of motif from the +foreign novel, there is in this little volume considerable that is +genuine and original: the author’s German patriotism, his praise of the +old days in the Fatherland in the chapter entitled “Die Gaststube,” his +“Trinklied eines Deutschen,” his disquisition on the position of the +poet in the world (“ein eignes Kapitel”), and his adulation of Gellert +at the latter’s grave. The reviewer in the _Deutsche Bibliothek der +schönen Wissenschaften_[33] chides the unnamed, youthful author for not +allowing his undeniable talents to ripen to maturity, for being led on +by Jacobi’s success to hasten his exercises into print. In reality Bock +was no longer youthful (forty-six) when the “Tagereise” was published. +The _Almanach der deutschen Musen_ for 1771, calls the book “an +unsuccessful imitation of Yorick and Jacobi,” and wishes that this +“Rhapsodie von Cruditäten” might be the last one thrust on the market as +a “Sentimental Journey.” The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[34] +comments also on the double inspiration, and the insufficiency and +tiresomeness of the performance. And yet Boie[35] says the papers +praised the little book; for himself, however, he observes, he little +desires to read it, and adds “What will our Yoricks yet come to? At last +they will get pretty insignificant, I think, if they keep on this way.” + +Bock was also the author of a series of little volumes written in the +early seventies, still under the sentimental charm: (1) Empfindsame +Reise durch die Visitenzimmer am Neujahrstag von einem deutschen Yorick +angestellt, Cosmopolis (Hamburg) 1771--really published at the end of +the previous year; (2) . . . am Ostertage, 1772; (3) Am Pfingsttage, +1772; (4) Am Johannistage, 1773; (5) Am Weynachtstage, 1773. These books +were issued anonymously, and Schröder’s Lexicon gives only (2) and (3) +under Bock’s name, but there seems no good reason to doubt his +authorship of them all. Indeed, his claim to (1) is, according to the +_Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, well-nigh proven by an allusion to the +“Tagereise” in the introduction, and by the initials signed. None of +them are given by Goedeke. The books are evidently only in a general way +dependent on the Sterne model, and are composed of observations upon all +sorts of subjects, the first section of each volume bearing some +relation to the festival in which they appear. + +In the second edition of the first volume the author confesses that the +title only is derived from Yorick,[36] and states that he was forced to +this misuse because no one at that time cared to read anything but +“Empfindsame Reisen.” It is also to be noted that the description +beneath the title, “von einem deutschen Yorick angestellt,” is omitted +after the first volume. The review of (4) and (5) in the _Altonaer +Reichs-Postreuter_ finds this a commendable resumption of proper +humility. The observations are evidently loosely strung together without +the pretense of a narrative, such as “Allgemeines Perspectiv durch alle +Visitenzimmer, Empfindsamer Neujahrswunsch, Empfindsame Berechnung eines +Weisen mit sich selbst, Empfindsame Entschlüsse, Empfindsame Art sein +Geld gut unterzubringen,” etc.[37] An obvious purpose inspires the +writer, the furthering of morality and virtue; many of the meditations +are distinctly religious. That some of the observations had a local +significance in Hamburg, together with the strong sentimental tendency +there, may account for the warm reception by the _Hamburgischer +unpartheyischer Correspondent_.[38] + +Some contemporary critics maintained a kinship between Matthias Claudius +and Yorick-Sterne, though nothing further than a similarity of mental +and emotional fibre is suggested. No one claimed an influence working +from the English master. Even as late as 1872, Wilhelm Röseler in his +introductory poem to a study of “Matthias Claudius und sein Humor”[39] +calls Asmus, “Deutschland’s Yorick,” thereby agreeing almost verbally +with the German correspondent of the _Deutsches Museum_, who wrote from +London nearly a hundred years before, September 14, 1778, “Asmus . . . +is the German Sterne,” an assertion which was denied by a later +correspondent, who asserts that Claudius’s manner is very different from +that of Sterne.[40] + +August von Kotzebue, as youthful narrator, betrays a dependence on +Sterne in his strange and ingeniously contrived tale, “Die Geschichte +meines Vaters, oder wie es zuging, dass ich gebohren wurde.”[41] The +influence of Sterne is noticeable in the beginning of the story: +he commences with a circumstantial account of his grandfather and +grandmother, and the circumstances of his father’s birth. The +grandfather is an original undoubtedly modeled on lines suggested by +Sterne’s hobby-horse idea. He had been chosen in days gone by to greet +the reigning prince on the latter’s return from a journey, and the old +man harks back to this circumstance with “hobby-horsical” persistence, +whatever the subject of conversation, even as all matters led Uncle Toby +to military fortification, and the elder Shandy to one of his pet +theories. + +In Schrimps the servant, another Shandean original is designed. When the +news comes of the birth of a son on Mount Vesuvius, master and man +discuss multifarious and irrelevant topics in a fashion reminiscent of +the conversation downstairs in the Shandy mansion while similar events +are going on above. Later in the book we have long lists, or catalogues +of things which resemble one of Sterne’s favorite mannerisms. But the +greater part of the wild, adventurous tale is far removed from its +inception, which presented domestic whimsicality in a gallery of +originals, unmistakably connected with Tristram Shandy. + +Göschen’s “Reise von Johann”[42] is a product of the late renascence of +sentimental journeying. Master and servant are represented in this book +as traveling through southern Germany, a pair as closely related in head +and heart as Yorick and La Fleur, or Captain Shandy and Corporal Trim. +The style is of rather forced buoyancy and sprightliness, with +intentional inconsequence and confusion, an attempt at humor of +narration, which is choked by characteristic national desire to convey +information, and a fatal propensity to description of places,[43] even +when some satirical purpose underlies the account, as in the description +of Erlangen and its university. The servant Johann has mild adventures +with the maids in the various inns, which are reminiscent of Yorick, +and in one case it borders on the openly suggestive and more Shandean +method.[44] A distinctly borrowed motif is the accidental finding of +papers which contain matters of interest. This is twice resorted to; +a former occupant of the room in the inn in Nürnberg had left valuable +notes of travel; and Johann, meeting a ragged woman, bent on +self-destruction, takes from her a box with papers, disclosing a +revolting story, baldly told. German mediocrity, imitating Yorick in +this regard, and failing of his delicacy and subtlety, brought forth +hideous offspring. An attempt at whimsicality of style is apparent in +the “Furth Catechismus in Frage und Antwort” (pp. 71-74), and genuinely +sentimental adventures are supplied by the death-bed scene (pp. 70-71) +and the village funeral (pp. 74-77). + +This book is classed by Ebeling[45] without sufficient reason as an +imitation of von Thümmel. This statement is probably derived from the +letter from Schiller to Goethe to which Ebeling refers in the following +lines. Schiller is writing to Goethe concerning plans for the Xenien, +December 29, 1795.[46] The abundance of material for the Xenien project +is commented upon with enthusiastic anticipation, and in a list of +vulnerable possibilities we read: “Thümmel, Göschen als sein +Stallmeister--” a collocation of names easily attributable, in +consideration of the underlying satiric purpose, to the general nature +of their work, without in any way implying the dependence of one author +on another,[47] or it could be interpreted as an allusion to the fact +that Göschen was von Thümmel’s publisher. Nor is there anything in the +correspondence to justify Ebeling’s harshness in saying concerning this +volume of Göschen, that it “enjoyed the honor of being ridiculed +(verhöhnt) in the Xenien-correspondence between Goethe and Schiller.” +Goethe replies (December 30), in approval, and exclaims, “How fine +Charis and Johann will appear beside one another.”[48] The suggestion +concerning a possible use of Göschen’s book in the Xenien was never +carried out. + +It will be remembered that Göschen submitted the manuscript of his book +to Schiller, and that Schiller returned the same with the statement +“that he had laughed heartily at some of the whims.[49]” Garve, in a +letter dated March 8, 1875, speaks of Göschen’s book in terms of +moderate praise.[50] + +The “Empfindsame Reise von Oldenburg nach Bremen,”[51] the author of +which was a Hanoverian army officer, H. J. C. Hedemann, is characterized +by Ebeling as emphatically not inspired by Sterne.[52] Although it is +not a sentimental journey, as Schummel and Jacobi and Bock conceived it, +and is thus not an example of the earliest period of imitation, and +although it contains no passages of teary sentimentality in attitude +toward man and beast, one must hesitate in denying all connection with +Sterne’s manner. It would seem as if, having outgrown the earlier +Yorick, awakened from dubious, fine-spun dreams of human brotherhood, +perhaps by the rude clatter of the French revolution, certain would-be +men of letters turned to Yorick again and saw, as through a glass +darkly, that other element of his nature, and tried in lumbering, +Teutonic way to adopt his whimsicality, shorn now of sentimentalism, and +to build success for their wares on remembrance of a defaced idol. This +view of later sentimental journeying is practically acknowledged at any +rate in a contemporary review, the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ for +August 22, 1796, which remarks: “A sentimental voyage ist ein Quodlibet, +wo einige bekannte Sachen und Namen gezwungenen Wiz und matten Scherz +heben sollen.”[53] + +Hedemann’s book is conspicuous in its effort to be whimsical and is +openly satirical in regard to the sentimentalism of former travelers. +His endeavor is markedly in Sterne’s manner in his attitude toward the +writing of the book, his conversation about the difficulty of managing +the material, his discussion with himself and the reader about the +various parts of the book. Quite in Sterne’s fashion, and to be +associated with Sterne’s frequent promises of chapters, and statements +concerning embarrassment of material, is conceived his determination “to +mention some things beforehand about which I don’t know anything to +say,” and his rather humorous enumeration of them. The author satirizes +the real sentimental traveler of Sterne’s earlier imitators in the +following passage (second chapter): + +“It really must be a great misfortune, an exceedingly vexatious case, +if no sentimental scenes occur to a sentimental traveler, but this is +surely not the case; only the subjects, which offer themselves must be +managed with strict economy. If one leaps over the most interesting +events entirely, one is in danger, indeed, of losing everything, at +least of not filling many pages.” + +Likewise in the following account of a sentimental adventure, the +satirical purpose is evident. He has not gone far on his journey when he +is met by a troop of children; with unsentimental coldness he determines +that there is a “Schlagbaum” in the way. After the children have opened +the barrier, he debates with himself to which child to give his little +coin, concludes, as a “sentimental traveler,” to give it to the other +sex, then there is nothing left to do but to follow his instinct. He +reflects long with himself whether he was right in so doing,--all of +which is a deliberate jest at the hesitation with reference to trivial +acts, the self-examination with regard to the minutiae of past conduct, +which was copied by Sterne’s imitators from numerous instances in the +works of Yorick. Satirical also is his vision in Chapter VII, in which +he beholds the temple of stupidity where lofty stupidity sits on a paper +throne; and of particular significance here is the explanation that the +whole company who do “erhabene Dummheit” honor formerly lived in cities +of the kingdom, but “now they are on journeys.” Further examples of a +humorous manner akin to Sterne are: his statement that it would be a +“great error” to write an account of a journey without weaving in an +anecdote of a prince, his claim that he has fulfilled all duties of such +a traveler save to fall in love, his resolve to accomplish it, and his +formal declaration: “I, the undersigned, do vow and make promise to be +in love before twenty-four hours are past.” The story with which his +volume closes, “Das Ständchen,” is rather entertaining and is told +graphically, easily, without whim or satire, yet not without a Sternian +_double entendre_.[54] + +Another work in which sentimentalism has dwindled away to a grinning +shade, and a certain irresponsible, light-hearted attitude is the sole +remaining connection with the great progenitor, is probably the +“Empfindsame Reise nach Schilda” (Leipzig, 1793), by Andreas Geo. Fr. +von Rabenau, which is reviewed in the _Allgemeine Litteratur-Zeitung_ +(1794, I, p. 416) as a free revision of an old popular tale, “Das +lustige und lächerliche Lalenburg.” The book is evidently without +sentimental tinge, is a merry combination of wit and joke combined with +caricature and half-serious tilting against unimportant literary +celebrities.[55] + +Certain miscellaneous works, which are more or less obviously connected +with Sterne may be grouped together here. + +To the first outburst of Sterne enthusiasm belongs an anonymous product, +“Zween Tage eines Schwindsüchtigen, etwas Empfindsames,” von L. . . . +(Hamburg, 1772), yet the editor admits that the sentiment is “not +entirely like Yorick’s,” and the _Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter_ (July 2, +1772) adds that “not at all like Yorick’s” would have been nearer the +truth. This book is mentioned by Hillebrand with implication that it is +the extreme example of the absurd sentimental tendency, probably judging +merely from the title,[56] for the book is doubtless merely thoughtful, +contemplative, with a minimum of overwrought feeling. + +According to the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_ (1775, pp. 592-3), +another product of the earlier seventies, the “Leben und Schicksale des +Martin Dickius,” by Johann Moritz Schwager, is in many places a clever +imitation of Sterne,[57] although the author claims, like Wezel in +“Tobias Knaut,” not to have read Shandy until after the book was +written. Surely the digression on noses which the author allows himself +is suspicious. + +Blankenburg, the author of the treatise on the novel to which reference +has been made, was regarded by contemporary and subsequent criticism as +an imitator of Sterne in his oddly titled novel “Beyträge zur Geschichte +des teutschen Reiches und teutscher Sitten,”[58] although the general +tenor of his essay, in reasonableness and balance, seemed to promise a +more independent, a more competent and felicitous performance. Kurz +expresses this opinion, which may have been derived from criticisms in +the eighteenth century journals. The _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_, +July 28, 1775, does not, however, take this view; but seems to be in the +novel a genuine exemplification of the author’s theories as previously +expressed.[59] The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[60] calls the book +didactic, a tract against certain essentially German follies. Merck, in +the _Teutscher Merkur_,[61] says the imitation of Sterne is quite too +obvious, though Blankenburg denies it. + +Among miscellaneous and anonymous works inspired directly by Sterne, +belongs undoubtedly “Die Geschichte meiner Reise nach Pirmont” (1773), +the author of which claims that it was written before Yorick was +translated or Jacobi published. He says he is not worthy to pack +Yorick’s bag or weave Jacobi’s arbor,[62] but the review of the +_Almanach der deutschen Musen_ evidently regards it as a product, +nevertheless, of Yorick’s impulse. Kuno Ridderhoff in his study of Frau +la Roche[63] says that the “Empfindsamkeit” of Rosalie in the first part +of “Rosaliens Briefe” is derived from Yorick. The “Leben, Thaten und +Meynungen des D. J. Pet. Menadie” (Halle, 1777-1781) is charged by the +_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ with attempt at Shandy-like +eccentricity of narrative and love of digression.[64] + +One little volume, unmistakably produced under Yorick’s spell, is worthy +of particular mention because at its time it received from the reviewers +a more cordial welcome than was accorded to the rank and file of +Sentimental Journeys. It is “M . . . R . . .” by E. A. A. von Göchhausen +(1740-1824), which was published at Eisenach, 1772, and was deemed +worthy of several later editions. Its dependence on Sterne is confessed +and obvious, sometimes apologetically and hesitatingly, sometimes +defiantly. The imitation of Sterne is strongest at the beginning, both +in outward form and subject-matter, and this measure of indebtedness +dwindles away steadily as the book advances. Göchhausen, as other +imitators, used at the outset a modish form, returned to it consciously +now and then when once under way, but when he actually had something to +say, a message of his own, found it impracticable or else forgot to +follow his model. + +The absurd title stands, of course, for “Meine Reisen” and the puerile +abbreviation as well as the reasons assigned for it, were intended to be +a Sterne-like jest, a pitiful one. Why Goedeke should suggest “Meine +Randglossen” is quite inexplicable, since Göchhausen himself in the very +first chapter indicates the real title. Beneath the enigmatical title +stands an alleged quotation from Shandy: “Ein Autor borgt, bettelt und +stiehlt so stark von dem andern, dass bey meiner Seele! die Originalität +fast so rar geworden ist als die Ehrlichkeit.”[65] The book itself, like +Sterne’s Journey, is divided into brief chapters unnumbered but named. +As the author loses Yorick from sight, the chapters grow longer. +Göchhausen has availed himself of an odd device to disarm +criticism,--a plan used once or twice by Schummel: occasionally when the +imitation is obvious, he repudiates the charge sarcastically, or +anticipates with irony the critics’ censure. For example, he gives +directions to his servant Pumper to pack for the journey; a reader +exclaims, “a portmanteau, Mr. Author, so that everything, even to that, +shall be just like Yorick,” and in the following passage the author +quarrels with the critics who allow no one to travel with a portmanteau, +because an English clergyman traveled with one. Pumper’s +misunderstanding of this objection is used as a farther ridicule of the +critics. When on the journey, the author converses with two poor +wandering monks, whose conversation, at any rate, is a witness to their +content, the whole being a legacy of the Lorenzo episode, and the author +entitles the chapter: “The members of the religious order, or, as some +critics will call it, a wretchedly unsuccessful imitation.” In the next +chapter, “Der Visitator” (pp. 125 ff.) in which the author encounters +customs annoyances, the critic is again allowed to complain that +everything is stolen from Yorick, a protest which is answered by the +author quite naïvely, “Yorick journeyed, ate, drank; I do too.” In “Die +Pause” the author stands before the inn door and fancies that a number +of spies (Ausspäher) stand there waiting for him; he protests that +Yorick encountered beggars before the inn in Montreuil, a very different +sort of folk. On page 253 he exclaims, “für diesen schreibe ich dieses +Kapitel nicht und ich--beklage ihn!” Here a footnote suggests “Das +übrige des Diebstahls vid. Yorick’s Gefangenen.” Similarly when he calls +his servant his “La Fleur,” he converses with the critics about his +theft from Yorick. + +The book is opened by a would-be whimsical note, the guessing about the +name of the book. The dependence upon Sterne, suggested by the motto, is +clinched by reference to this quotation in the section “Apologie,” and +by the following chapter, which is entitled “Yorick.” The latter is the +most unequivocal and, withal, the most successful imitation of Yorick’s +manner which the volume offers. The author is sitting on a sofa reading +the Sentimental Journey, and the idea of such a trip is awakened in him. +Someone knocks and the door is opened by the postman, as the narrator is +opening his “Lorenzodose,” and the story of the poor monk is touching +his heart now for the twentieth time as strongly as ever. The postman +asks postage on the letter as well as his own trivial fee. The author +counts over money, miscounts it, then in counting forgets all about it, +puts the money away and continues the reading of Yorick. The postman +interrupts him; the author grows impatient and says, “You want four +groschen?” and is inexplicably vexed at the honesty of the man who says +it is only three pfennigs for himself and the four groschen for the +post. Here is a direct following of the Lorenzo episode; caprice rules +his behavior toward an inferior, who is modest in his request. After the +incident, his spite, his head and his heart and his “ich” converse in +true Sterne fashion as to the advisability of his beginning to read +Yorick again. He reasons with himself concerning his conduct toward the +postman, then in an apostrophe to Yorick he condemns himself for failing +in this little test. This conversation occupies so much time that he +cannot run after the postman, but he resolves that nothing, not even the +fly that lights on his nose, shall bring him so far as to forget +wherefore his friend J . . . . sent him a “Lorenzodose.” And at the end +of the section there is a picture of the snuff-box with the lid open, +disclosing the letters of the word “Yorick.” The “Lorenzodose” is +mentioned later, and later still the author calms his indignation by +opening the box; he fortifies himself also by a look at the +treasure.[66] + +Following this picture of the snuff-box is an open letter to “My dear +J . . . ,” who, at the author’s request, had sent him on June 29th a +“Lorenzodose.” Jacobi’s accompanying words are given. The author +acknowledges the difficulty with which sometimes the self-conquest +demanded by allegiance to the sentimental symbol has been won. + +Yet, compared with some other imitations of the good Yorick, the volume +contains but a moderate amount of lavish sentiment. The servant Pumper +is a man of feeling, who grieves that the horses trod the dewdrops from +the blades of grass. Cast in the real Yorick mould is the scene in which +Pumper kills a marmot (Hamster); upon his master’s expostulation that +God created the little beast also, Pumper is touched, wipes the blood +off with his cuff and buries the animal with tenderness, indulging in a +pathetic soliloquy; the whole being a variant of Yorick’s ass episode. + +Marked with a similar vein of sentimentality is the narrator’s conduct +toward the poor wanderer with his heavy burden: the author asserts that +he has never eaten a roll, put on a white shirt, traveled in a +comfortable carriage, or been borne by a strong horse, without bemoaning +those who were less fortunately circumstanced. A similar and truly +Sterne-like triumph of feeling over convention is the traveler’s +insistence that Pumper shall ride with him inside the coach; seemingly a +point derived from Jacobi’s failure to be equally democratic.[67] + +Sterne’s emphasis upon the machinery of his story-telling, especially +his distraught pretense at logical sequence in the ordering of his +material is here imitated. For example: near the close of a chapter the +author summons his servant Pumper, but since the chapter bore the title +“Der Brief” and the servant can neither read nor write a letter, he says +the latter has nothing to do in that chapter, but he is to be introduced +in the following one. Yet with Yorick’s inconsequence, the narrator is +led aside and exclaims at the end of this chapter, “But where is +Pumper?” with the answer, “Heaven and my readers know, it was to no +purpose that this chapter was so named (and perhaps this is not the last +one to which the title will be just as appropriate)”, and the next +chapter pursues the whimsical attempt, beginning “As to whether Pumper +will appear in this chapter, about that, dear reader, I am not really +sure myself.” + +The whimsical, unconventional interposition of the reader, and the +author’s reasoning with him, a Sterne device, is employed so constantly +in the book as to become a wearying mannerism. Examples have already +been cited, additional ones are numerous: the fifth section is devoted +to such conversation with the reader concerning the work; later the +reader objects to the narrator’s drinking coffee without giving a +chapter about it; the reader is allowed to express his wonder as to what +the chapter is going to be because of the author’s leap; the reader +guesses where the author can be, when he begins to describe conditions +in the moon. The chapter “Der Einwurf” is occupied entirely with the +reader’s protest, and the last two sections are largely the record of +fancied conversations with various readers concerning the nature of the +book; here the author discloses himself.[68] Sterne-like whim is found +in the chapter “Die Nacht,” which consists of a single sentence: “Ich +schenke Ihnen diesen ganzen Zeitraum, denn ich habe ihn ruhig +verschlafen.” Similar Shandean eccentricity is illustrated by the +chapter entitled “Der Monolog,” which consists of four lines of dots, +and the question, “Didn’t you think all this too, my readers?” +Typographical eccentricity is observed also in the arrangement of the +conversation of the ladies A., B., C., D., etc., in the last chapter. +Like Sterne, our author makes lists of things; probably inspired by +Yorick’s apostrophe to the “Sensorium” is our traveler’s appeal to the +spring of joy. The description of the fashion of walking observed in the +maid in the moon is reminiscent of a similar passage in Schummel’s +journey. + +Göchhausen’s own work, untrammeled by outside influence, is +considerable, largely a genial satire on critics and philosophers; +his stay in the moon is a kind of Utopian fancy. + +The literary journals accepted Göchhausen’s work as a Yorick imitation, +condemned it as such apologetically, but found much in the book worthy +of their praise.[69] + +Probably the best known novel which adopts in considerable measure the +style of Tristram Shandy is Wezel’s once famous “Tobias Knaut,” the +“Lebensgeschichte Tobias Knauts des Weisen sonst Stammler genannt, +aus Familiennachrichten gesammelt.”[70] In this work the influence of +Fielding is felt parallel to that of Sterne. The historians of +literature all accord the book a high place among humorous efforts of +the period, crediting the author with wit, narrative ability, knowledge +of human nature and full consciousness of plan and purpose.[71] They +unite also in the opinion that “Tobias Knaut” places Wezel in the ranks +of Sterne imitators, but this can be accepted only guardedly, for in +part the novel must be regarded as a satire on “Empfindsamkeit” and +hence in some measure be classified as an opposing force to Sterne’s +dominion, especially to the distinctively German Sterne. That this +impulse, which later became the guiding principle of “Wilhelmine Arend,” +was already strong in “Tobias Knaut” is hinted at by Gervinus, but +passed over in silence by other writers. Kurz, following Wieland, who +reviewed the novel in his _Merkur_, finds that the influence of Sterne +was baneful. Other contemporary reviews deplored the imitation as +obscuring and stultifying the undeniable and genuinely original talents +of the author.[72] + +A brief investigation of Wezel’s novel will easily demonstrate his +indebtedness to Sterne. Yet Wezel in his preface, anticipating the +charge of imitation, asserts that he had not read Shandy when “Tobias” +was begun. Possibly he intends this assertion as a whim, for he quotes +Tristram at some length.[73] This inconsistency is occasion for censure +on the part of the reviewers. + +Wezel’s story begins, like Shandy, “ab ovo,” and, in resemblance to +Sterne’s masterpiece, the connection between the condition of the child +before its birth and its subsequent life and character is insisted upon. +A reference is later made to this. The work is episodical and +digressive, but in a more extensive way than Shandy; the episodes in +Sterne’s novel are yet part and parcel of the story, infused with the +personality of the writer, and linked indissolubly to the little family +of originals whose sayings and doings are immortalized by Sterne. This +is not true of Wezel: his episodes and digressions are much more purely +extraneous in event, and nature of interest. The story of the new-found +son, which fills sixty-four pages, is like a story within a story, for +its connection with the Knaut family is very remote. This very story, +interpolated as it is, is itself again interrupted by a seven-page +digression concerning Tyrus, Alexander, Pipin and Charlemagne, which the +author states is taken from the one hundred and twenty-first chapter of +his “Lateinische Pneumatologie,”--a genuine Sternian pretense, reminding +one of the “Tristrapaedia.” Whimsicality of manner distinctly +reminiscent of Sterne is found in his mock-scientific catalogues or +lists of things, as in Chapter III, “Deduktionen, Dissertationen, +Argumentationen a priori und a posteriori,” and so on; plainly adapted +from Sterne’s idiosyncrasy of form is the advertisement which in large +red letters occupies the middle of a page in the twenty-first chapter of +the second volume, which reads as follows: “Dienst-freundliche Anzeige. +Jedermann, der an ernsten Gesprächen keinen Gefallen findet, wird +freundschaftlich ersucht alle folgende Blätter, deren Inhalt einem +Gespräche ähnlich sieht, wohlbedächtig zu überschlagen, d.h. von dieser +Anzeige an gerechnet. Darauf denke ich, soll jedermanniglich vom 22. +Absatze fahren können,--Cuique Suum.” The following page is blank: this +is closely akin to Sterne’s vagaries. Like Sterne, he makes promise of +chapter-subject.[74] Similarly dependent on Sterne’s example, is the +Fragment in Chapter VIII, Volume III, which breaks off suddenly under +the plea that the rest could not be found. Like Sterne, our author +satirizes detailed description in the excessive account of the +infinitesimals of personal discomfort after a carouse.[75] He makes also +obscure whimsical allusions, accompanied by typographical eccentricities +(I, p. 153). To be connected with the story of the Abbess of Andouillets +is the humor “Man leuterirte, appelirte--irte,--irte,--irte.” + +The author’s perplexities in managing the composition of the book are +sketched in a way undoubtedly derived from Sterne,--for example, the +beginning of Chapter IX in Volume III is a lament over the difficulties +of chronicling what has happened during the preceding learned +disquisition. When Tobias in anger begins to beat his horse, this is +accompanied by the sighs of the author, a really audible one being put +in a footnote, the whole forming a whimsy of narrative style for which +Sterne must be held responsible. Similar to this is the author’s +statement (Chap. XXV, Vol. II), that Lucian, Swift, Pope, Wieland and +all the rest could not unite the characteristics which had just been +predicated of Selmann. Like Sterne, Wezel converses with the reader +about the way of telling the story, indulging[76] in a mock-serious line +of reasoning with meaningless Sternesque dashes. Further conversation +with the reader is found at the beginning of Chapter III in Volume I, +and in Chapter VIII of the first volume, he cries, “Wake up, ladies and +gentlemen,” and continues at some length a conversation with these +fancied personages about the progress of the book. Wezel in a few cases +adopted the worst feature of Sterne’s work and was guilty of bad taste +in precisely Yorick’s style: Tobias’s adventure with the so-called +soldier’s wife, after he has run away from home, is a case in point, but +the following adventure with the two maidens while Tobias is bathing in +the pool is distinctly suggestive of Fielding. Sterne’s indecent +suggestion is also followed in the hints at the possible occasion of the +Original’s aversion to women. A similar censure could be spoken +regarding the adventure in the tavern,[77] where the author hesitates on +the edge of grossness. + +Wezel joined other imitators of Yorick in using as a motif the +accidental interest of lost documents, or papers: here the poems of the +“Original,” left behind in the hotel, played their rôle in the tale. +The treatment of the wandering boy by the kindly peasant is clearly an +imitation of Yorick’s famous visit in the rural cottage. A parallel to +Walter Shandy’s theory of the dependence of great events on trifles is +found in the story of the volume of Tacitus, which by chance suggested +the sleeping potion for Frau v. L., or that Tobias’s inability to take +off his hat with his right hand was influential on the boy’s future +life. This is a reminder of Tristram’s obliquity in his manner of +setting up his top. As in Shandy, there is a discussion about the +location of the soul. The character of Selmann is a compound of Yorick +and the elder Shandy, with a tinge of satiric exaggeration, meant to +chastise the thirst for “originals” and overwrought sentimentalism. His +generosity and sensitiveness to human pain is like Yorick. As a boy he +would empty his purse into the bosom of a poor man; but his daily life +was one round of Shandean speculation, largely about the relationships +of trivial things: for example, his yearly periods of investigating his +motives in inviting his neighbors Herr v. ** and Herr v. *** every July +to his home. + +Wezel’s satire on the craze for originality is exemplified in the +account of the “Original” (Chap. XXII, Vol. II), who was cold when +others were hot, complained of not liking his soup because the plate was +not full, but who threw the contents of his coffee cup at the host +because it was filled to the brim, and trembled at the approach of a +woman. Selmann longs to meet such an original. Selmann also thinks he +has found an original in the inn-keeper who answers everything with +“Nein,” greatly to his own disadvantage, though it turns out later that +this was only a device planned by another character to gain advantage +over Selmann himself. So also, in the third volume, Selmann and Tobias +ride off in pursuit of a sentimental adventure, but the latter proves to +be merely a jest of the Captain at the expense of his sentimental +friend. Satire on sentimentalism is further unmistakable in the two +maidens, Adelheid and Kunigunde, who weep over a dead butterfly, and +write a lament over its demise. In jest, too, it is said that the +Captain made a “sentimental journey through the stables.” The author +converses with Ermindus, who seems to be a kind of Eugenius, +a convenient figure for reference, apostrophe, and appeal. The novelist +makes also, like Sterne, mock-pedantic allusions, once indeed making a +long citation from a learned Chinese book. An expression suggesting +Sterne is the oath taken “bey den Nachthemden aller Musen,”[78] and an +intentional inconsequence of narration, giving occasion to conversation +regarding the author’s control of his work, is the sudden passing over +of the six years which Tobias spent in Selmann’s house.[79] + +In connection with Wezel’s occupation with Sterne and Sterne products in +Germany, it is interesting to consider his poem: “Die unvermuthete +Nachbarschaft. Ein Gespräch,” which was the second in a volume of three +poems entitled “Epistel an die deutschen Dichter,” the name of the first +poem, and published in Leipzig in 1775. This slight work is written for +the most part in couplets and covers twenty-three pages. Wezel +represents Doktor Young, the author of the gloomy “Night Thoughts” and +“Der gute Lacher,--Lorenz Sterne” as occupying positions side by side in +his book-case. This proximity gives rise to a conversation between the +two antipodal British authors: Sterne says: + + “Wir brauchen beide vielen Raum, + Your Reverence viel zum Händeringen, + Und meine Wenigkeit, zum Pfeifen, Tanzen, Singen.” + +and later, + + . . . “Und will von Herzen gern der Thor der Thoren seyn; + Jüngst that ich ernst: gleich hielt die + Narrheit mich beym Rocke. + Wo, rief sie, willst du hin,--Du! weisst du unsern Bund. + Ist das der Dank? Du lachtest dich gesund.” + +To Sterne’s further enunciation of this joyous theory of life, Young +naturally replies in characteristic terms, emphasizing life’s +evanescence and joy’s certain blight. But Sterne, though acknowledging +the transitoriness of life’s pleasures, denies Young’s deductions. +Yorick’s conception of death is quite in contrast to Young’s picture and +one must admit that it has no justification in Sterne’s writings. On the +contrary, Yorick’s life was one long flight from the grim enemy. The +idea of death cherished by Asmus in his “Freund Hein,” the welcome +guest, seems rather the conception which Wezel thrusts on Sterne. Death +comes to Yorick in full dress, a youth, a Mercury: + + “Er thuts, er kommt zu mir, ‘Komm, guter Lorenz, flieh!’ + So ruft er auf mich zu. ‘Dein Haus fängt an zu wanken, + Die Mauern spalten sich; Gewölb und Balken schwanken, + Was nuzt dir so ein Haus? . . .’” + +so he takes the wreathèd cup, drinks joyfully, and follows death, +embracing him. + + “Das ist mein Tod, ich sehe keinen Knochen, + Womit du ihn, gleich einem Zahnarzt, schmückst, + Geschieht es heute noch, geschieht’s in wenig Wochen, + Dass du, Gevatter Tod, nur meine Hände drückst? + Ganz nach Bequemlichkeit! du bist mir zwar willkommen.” + +The latter part of the poem contains a rather extended laudation of the +part played by sympathetic feeling in the conduct of life. + +That there would be those in Germany as in England, who saw in Sterne’s +works only a mine of vulgar suggestion, a relation sometimes delicate +and clever, sometimes bald and ugly, of the indelicate and sensual, is a +foregone conclusion. Undoubtedly some found in the general approbation +which was accorded Sterne’s books a sanction for forcing upon the public +the products of their own diseased imaginations. + +This pernicious influence of the English master is exemplified by +Wegener’s “Raritäten, ein hinterlassenes Werk des Küsters von +Rummelsberg.”[80] The first volume is dedicated to “Sebaldus Nothanker,” +and the long document claims for the author unusual distinction, in thus +foregoing the possibility of reward or favor, since he dedicates his +book to a fictitious personage. The idea of the book is to present +“merry observations” for every day in the year. With the end of the +fourth volume the author has reached March 17, and, according to the +_Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_, the sixth volume includes May 22. The +present writer was unable to examine the last volume to discover whether +the year was rounded out in this way. + +The author claims to write “neither for surly Catos nor for those fond +of vulgar jests and smutty books,” but for those who will laugh. At the +close of his preface he confesses the source of his inspiration: “In +order to inspire myself with something of the spirit of a Sterne, I made +a decoction out of his writings and drank the same eagerly; indeed I +have burned the finest passages to powder, and then partaken of it with +warm English ale, but”--he had the insight and courtesy to add--“it +helped me just a little as it aids a lame man, if he steps in the +footprints of one who can walk nimbly.” The very nature of this author’s +dependence on Sterne excludes here any extended analysis of the +connection. The style is abrupt, full of affected gaiety and raillery, +conversational and journalistic. The stories, observations and +reflections, in prose and verse, represent one and all the ribaldry of +Sterne at its lowest ebb, as illustrated, for example, by the story of +the abbess of Andouillets, but without the charm and grace with which +that tale begins. The author copies Sterne in the tone of his +lucubrations; the material is drawn from other sources. In the first +volume, at any rate, his only direct indebtedness to Sterne is the +introduction of the Shandean theory of noses in the article for January +11. The pages also, sometimes strewn with stars and dashes, present a +somewhat Sternesque appearance. + +These volumes are reviewed in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[81] +with full appreciation of their pernicious influence, and with open +acknowledgment that their success demonstrates a pervision of taste in +the fatherland. The author of the “Litterarische Reise durch +Deutschland”[82] advises his sister, to whom his letters are directed, +to put her handkerchief before her mouth at the very mention of Wegener, +and fears that the very name has befouled his pen. A similar +condemnation is meted out in Wieland’s _Merkur_.[83] + +A similar commentary on contemporary taste is obtained from a somewhat +similar collection of stories, “Der Geist der Romane im letzten Viertel +des 18ten Jahrhunderts,” Breslau and Hirschberg, 1788, in which the +author (S. G. Preisser?) claims to follow the spirit of the period and +gives six stories of revolting sensuality, with a thin whitewash of +teary sentimentalism. + +The pursuit of references to Yorick and direct appeals to his writings +in the German literary world of the century succeeding the era of his +great popularity would be a monstrous and fruitless task. Such +references in books, letters and periodicals multiply beyond possibility +of systematic study. One might take the works[84] of Friedrich Matthison +as a case in point. He visits the grave of Musäus, even as Tristram +Shandy sought for the resting-place of the two lovers in Lyons (III, +p. 312); as he travels in Italy, he remarks that a certain visit would +have afforded Yorick’s “Empfindsamkeit” the finest material for an +Ash-Wednesday sermon (IV, p. 67). Sterne’s expressions are cited: +“Erdwasserball” for the earth (V, p. 57), “Wo keine Pflanze, die da +nichts zu suchen hatte, eine bleibende Stäte fand” (V, p. 302); two +farmsteads in the Tyrol are designated as “Nach dem Ideal Yoricks” (VI, +pp. 24-25). He refers to the story of the abbess of Andouillets (VI, +64); he narrates (VIII, pp. 203-4) an anecdote of Sterne which has just +been printed in the _Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_ (1769, p. 151); he +visits Prof. Levade in Lausanne, who bore a striking resemblance to +Sterne (V, p. 279), and refers to Yorick in other minor regards (VII, +158; VIII, pp. 51, 77, and Briefe II, 76). Yet in spite of this evident +infatuation, Matthison’s account of his own travels cannot be classed as +an imitation of Yorick, but is purely objective, descriptive, without +search for humor or pathos, with no introduction of personalities save +friends and celebrities. Heinse alluded to Sterne frequently in his +letters to Gleim (1770-1771),[85] but after August 23, 1771, Sterne +vanished from his fund of allusion, though the correspondence lasts +until 1802, a fact of significance in dating the German enthusiasm for +Sterne and the German knowledge of Shandy from the publication of the +Sentimental Journey, and likewise an indication of the insecurity of +Yorick’s personal hold. + +Miscellaneous allusions to Sterne, illustrating the magnitude and +duration of his popularity, may not be without interest: Kästner +“Vermischte Schriften,” II, p. 134 (Steckenpferd); Lenz “Gesammelte +Werke,” Berlin, 1828, Vol. III, p. 312; letter from the Duchess Amalie, +August 2, 1779, in “Briefe an und von Merck,” Darmstadt, 1838; letter of +Caroline Herder to Knebel, April 2, 1799, in “K. L. von Knebel’s +Literarischer Nachlass,” Leipzig, 1835, p. 324 (Yorick’s “heiliges +Sensorium”); a rather unfavorable but apologetic criticism of Shandy in +the “Hinterlassene Schriften” of Charlotta Sophia Sidonia Seidelinn, +Nürnberg, 1793, p. 227; “Schiller’s Briefe,” edited by Fritz Jonas, I, +pp. 136, 239; in Hamann’s letters, “Leben und Schriften,” edited by Dr. +C. H. Gildermeister, Gotha, 1875, II, p. 338; III, p. 56; V, pp. 16, +163; in C. L. Jünger’s “Anlage zu einem Familiengespräch über die +Physiognomik” in _Deutsches Museum_, II, pp. 781-809, where the French +barber who proposes to dip Yorick’s wig in the sea is taken as a type of +exaggeration. And a similar reference is found in Wieland’s _Merkur_, +1799, I, p. 15: Yorick’s Sensorium is again cited, _Merkur_, 1791, II, +p. 95. Other references in the _Merkur_ are: 1774, III, p. 52; 1791, I, +p. 418; 1800, I, p. 14; 1804, I, pp. 19-21; _Deutsches Museum_, IV, pp. +66, 462; _Neuer Gelehrter Mercurius_, Altona, 1773, August 19, in review +of Goethe’s “Götz;” _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1771, p. 93. And +thus the references scatter themselves down the decades. “Das Wörtlein +Und,” by F. A. Krummacher (Duisberg und Essen, 1811), bore a motto taken +from the Koran, and contained the story of Uncle Toby and the fly with a +personal application, and Yorick’s division of travelers is copied +bodily and applied to critics. Friedrich Hebbel, probably in 1828, gave +his Newfoundland dog the name of Yorick-Sterne-Monarch.[86] Yorick is +familiarly mentioned in Wilhelm Raabe’s “Chronik der Sperlingsgasse” +(1857), and in Ernst von Wolzogen’s “Der Dornenweg,” two characters +address one another in Yorick similes. Indeed, in the summer of 1902, +a Berlin newspaper was publishing “Eine Empfindsame Reise in einem +Automobile.”[87] + +Musäus is named as an imitator of Sterne by Koberstein, and Erich +Schmidt implies in his “Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe,” that he +followed Sterne in his “Grandison der Zweite,” which could hardly be +possible, for “Grandison der Zweite” was first published in 1760, and +was probably written during 1759, that is, before Sterne had published +Tristram Shandy. Adolph von Knigge is also mentioned by Koberstein as a +follower of Sterne, and Baker includes Knigge’s “Reise nach +Braunschweig” and “Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothringen” in his list. +Their connection with Sterne cannot be designated as other than remote; +the former is a merry vagabond story, reminding one much more of the +tavern and way-faring adventures in Fielding and Smollett, and +suggesting Sterne only in the constant conversation with the reader +about the progress of the book and the mechanism of its construction. +One example of the hobby-horse idea in this narration may perhaps be +traced to Sterne. The “Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothringen” has even +less connection; it shares only in the increase of interest in personal +accounts of travel. Knigge’s novels, “Peter Claus” and “Der Roman meines +Lebens,” are decidedly not imitations of Sterne; a clue to the character +of the former may be obtained from the fact that it was translated into +English as “The German Gil Blas.” “Der Roman meines Lebens” is a typical +eighteenth century love-story written in letters, with numerous +characters, various intrigues and unexpected adventures; indeed, a part +of the plot, involving the abduction of one of the characters, reminds +one of “Clarissa Harlowe.” Sterne is, however, incidentally mentioned in +both books, is quoted in “Peter Claus” (Chapter VI, Vol. II), and Walter +Shandy’s theory of Christian names is cited in “Der Roman meines +Lebens.”[88] That Knigge had no sympathy with exaggerated sentimentalism +is seen in a passage in his “Umgang mit Menschen.”[89] Knigge admired +and appreciated the real Sterne and speaks in his “Ueber Schriftsteller +und Schriftstellerei”[90] of Yorick’s sharpening observation regarding +the little but yet important traits of character. + +Moritz August von Thümmel in his famous “Reise in die mittäglichen +Provinzen von Frankreich” adopted Sterne’s general idea of sentimental +journeying, shorn largely of the capriciousness and whimsicality which +marked Sterne’s pilgrimage. He followed Sterne also in driving the +sensuous to the borderland of the sensual. + +Hippel’s novels, “Lebensläufe nach aufsteigender Linie” and “Kreuz und +Querzüge des Ritters A. bis Z.” were purely Shandean products in which a +humor unmistakably imitated from Sterne struggles rather unsuccessfully +with pedagogical seriousness. Jean Paul was undoubtedly indebted to +Sterne for a part of his literary equipment, and his works afford proof +both of his occupation with Sterne’s writings and its effect upon his +own. A study of Hippel’s “Lebensläufe” in connection with both Sterne +and Jean Paul was suggested but a few years after Hippel’s death by a +reviewer in the _Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_[91] as a +fruitful topic for investigation. A detailed, minute study of von +Thümmel, Hippel and Jean Paul[92] in connection with the English master +is purposed as a continuation of the present essay. Heine’s pictures of +travel, too, have something of Sterne in them. + + + [Footnote 1: _Quellen und Forschungen_, II, p. 27.] + + [Footnote 2: Jacobi remarked, in his preface to the “Winterreise” + in the edition of 1807, that this section, “Der Taubenschlag” is + not to be reckoned as bearing the trace of the then condemned + “Empfindeley,” for many authors, ancient and modern, have taken up + the cause of animals against man; yet Sterne is probably the + source of Jacobi’s expression of his feeling.] + + [Footnote 3: XI, 2, pp. 16 f.] + + [Footnote 4: For reviews of the “Sommerreise” see _Allg. deutsche + Bibl._, XIII, i, p. 261, _Deutsche Bibl. der schönen + Wissenschaften_, IV, p. 354, and _Neue Critische Nachrichten_, + Greifswald, V, p. 406. _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1770, + p. 112. The “Winterreise” is also reviewed there, p. 110.] + + [Footnote 5: Some minor points may be noted. Longo implies + (page 2) that it was Bode’s translation of the original + Sentimental Journey which was re-issued in four volumes, Hamburg + and Bremen, 1769, whereas the edition was practically identical + with the previous one, and the two added volumes were those of + Stevenson’s continuation. Longo calls Sterne’s Eliza “Elisha” + (p. 28) and Tristram’s father becomes Sir Walter Shandy (p. 37), + an unwarranted exaltation of the retired merchant.] + + [Footnote 6: Review in the _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_] + + [Footnote 7: I, pp. 314 + 20; II, 337; III. 330.] + + [Footnote 8: I, p. 156; III, p. 318.] + + [Footnote 9: Schummel states this himself, III, p. 320.] + + [Footnote 10: Tristram Shandy, III, 51-54.] + + [Footnote 11: Pp. 256-265.] + + [Footnote 12: P. 34.] + + [Footnote 13: Shandy, I, p. 75; Schummel, I, p. 265.] + + [Footnote 14: II, p. 117.] + + [Footnote 15: In “Das Kapitel von meiner Lebensart,” II, pp. + 113 ff.] + + [Footnote 16: XVI, 2, pp. 682-689.] + + [Footnote 17: The third part is reviewed (Hr) in XIX, 2, pp. + 576-7, but without significant contribution to the question.] + + [Footnote 18: I, 2, pp. 66-74, the second number of 1772. Review + is signed “S.”] + + [Footnote 19: Another review of Schummel’s book is found in the + _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1773, p. 106.] + + [Footnote 20: XI, 2, p. 344; XV, 1, p. 249; XVII, 1, p. 244. Also + entitled “Begebenheiten des Herrn Redlich,” the novel was + published Wittenberg, 1756-71; Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1768-71.] + + [Footnote 21: XXVIII, 1, pp. 199 ff. Reviewed also in _Auserlesene + Bibliothek der neusten deutschen Litteratur_, Lemgo, VII, p. 234 + (1775) and _Neue litterarische Unterhaltungen_, Breslau, I, pp. + 660-691.] + + [Footnote 22: Leipzig, Crusius, 1776, pp. 120. Baker, influenced + by title and authorship, includes it among the literary progeny of + Yorick. It has no connection with Sterne.] + + [Footnote 23: See _Jahresberichte für neuere deutsche + Litteratur-geschichte_, II, p. 106 (1893).] + + [Footnote 24: Breslau, 1792. It is included in Baker’s list.] + + [Footnote 25: Frankfurt and Leipzig, pp. 208. Baker regards these + two editions as two different works.] + + [Footnote 26: Sentimental Journey, pp. 87-88.] + + [Footnote 27: Sentimental Journey, p. 73.] + + [Footnote 28: Pp. 45-50.] + + [Footnote 29: Pp. 106-119.] + + [Footnote 30: Die Gesellschafterin, pp. 131-144.] + + [Footnote 31: Pp. 145-155.] + + [Footnote 32: Die Dame, pp. 120-130.] + + [Footnote 33: V, St. 2, p. 371.] + + [Footnote 34: Anhang to XIII-XXIV, Vol. II, p. 1151.] + + [Footnote 35: Letter to Raspe, Göttingen, June 2, 1770, in + _Weimarisches Jahrbuch_, III, p. 28.] + + [Footnote 36: _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, April 27, 1773, pp. 276-8.] + + [Footnote 37: _Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent_, + December 31, 1771.] + + [Footnote 38: Other reviews are (2) and (3), _Frankfurter gel. + Anz._, November 27, 1772; (2) and (3), _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, + XIX, 2, p. 579 (Musäus) and XXIV, 1, p. 287; of the series, _Neue + Critische Nachrichten_ (Greifswald), IX, p. 152. There is a rather + full analysis of (1) in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1773, pp. 276-8, + April 27. According to Wittenberg in the _Altonaer + Reichs-Postreuter_ (June 21, 1773), Holfrath Deinet was the author + of this review. A sentimental episode from these “Journeys” was + made the subject of a play called “Der Greis” and produced at + Munich in 1774. (See _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXII, 2, p. 466).] + + [Footnote 39: Berlin, 1873.] + + [Footnote 40: _Deutsches Museum_, VI, p. 384, and VII, p. 220.] + + [Footnote 41: Reval und Leipzig, 1788, 2d edition, 1792, and + published in “Kleine gesammelte Schriften,” Reval und Leipzig, + 1789, Vol. III, pp. 131-292. Reviewed in _Allg. Litt.-Zeitung_, + 1789, II, p. 736.] + + [Footnote 42: Leipzig, 1793, pp. 224, 8vo, by Georg Joachim + Göschen.] + + [Footnote 43: See the account of Ulm, and of Lindau near the end + of the volume.] + + [Footnote 44: See pp. 21-22 and 105.] + + [Footnote 45: “Geschichte der komischen Literatur,” III, p. 625.] + + [Footnote 46: See “Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Schiller,” + edited by Boxberger. Stuttgart, Spemann, Vol. I, p. 118.] + + [Footnote 47: It is to be noted also that von Thümmel’s first + servant bears the name Johann.] + + [Footnote 48: “Charis oder über das Schöne und die Schönheit in + den bildenden Künsten” by Ramdohr, Leipzig, 1793.] + + [Footnote 49: “Schiller’s Briefe,” edited by Fritz Jonas, III, + pp. 316, 319. Letters of June 6 and June 23 (?), 1793.] + + [Footnote 50: “Briefe von Christian Garve an Chr. Felix Weisse, + und einige andern Freunde,” Breslau, 1803, p. 189-190. The book + was reviewed favorably by the _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1794, IV, + p. 513.] + + [Footnote 51: Falkenburg, 1796, pp. 110. Goedeke gives Bremen as + place of publication.] + + [Footnote 52: Ebeling, III, p. 625, gives Hademann as author, and + Fallenburg--both probably misprints.] + + [Footnote 53: The review is of “Auch Vetter Heinrich hat Launen, + von G. L. B., Frankfurt-am-Main, 1796”--a book evidently called + into being by a translation of selections from “Les Lunes du + Cousin Jacques.” Jünger was the translator. The original is the + work of Beffroy de Regny.] + + [Footnote 54: Hedemann’s book is reviewed indifferently in the + _Allg. Litt. Zeitung._ (Jena, 1798, I, p. 173.)] + + [Footnote 55: Von Rabenau wrote also “Hans Kiekindiewelts Reise” + (Leipzig, 1794), which Ebeling (III, p. 623) condemns as “the most + commonplace imitation of the most ordinary kind of the comic.”] + + [Footnote 56: It is also reviewed by Musäus in the _Allg. deutsche + Bibl._, XIX, 2, p. 579.] + + [Footnote 57: The same opinion is expressed in the _Jenaische + Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen_, 1776, p. 465. See also + Schwinger’s study of “Sebaldus Nothanker,” pp. 248-251; Ebeling, + p. 584; _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XXXII, 1, p. 141.] + + [Footnote 58: Leipzig and Liegnitz, 1775.] + + [Footnote 59: The _Leipziger Museum Almanach_, 1776, pp. 69-70, + agrees in this view.] + + [Footnote 60: XXIX, 2, p. 507.] + + [Footnote 61: 1776, I, p. 272.] + + [Footnote 62: An allusion to an episode of the “Sommerreise.”] + + [Footnote 63: “Sophie von la Roche,” Göttinger Dissertation, + Einbeck, 1895.] + + [Footnote 64: _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XLVII, 1, p. 435; LII, 1, + p. 148, and _Anhang_, XXIV-XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 903-908.] + + [Footnote 65: The quotation is really from the spurious ninth + volume in Zückert’s translation.] + + [Footnote 66: For these references to the snuff-box, see pp. 53, + 132-3, 303 and 314.] + + [Footnote 67: In “Sommerreise.”] + + [Footnote 68: Other examples are found pp. 57, 90, 255, 270, 209, + 312, 390, and elsewhere.] + + [Footnote 69: See _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen + Litteratur_, VII, p. 399; _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1775, + p. 75; _Magazin der deutschen Critik_, III, 1, p. 174; + _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, _July_ 1, 1774; _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, + XXVI, 2, 487; _Teut. Merkur_, VI, p. 353; _Gothaische Gelehrte + Zeitungen_, 1774, I, p. 17.] + + [Footnote 70: Leipzig, 1773-76, 4 vols. “Tobias Knaut” was at + first ascribed to Wieland.] + + [Footnote 71: Gervinus, V, pp. 225 ff.; Ebeling, III, p. 568; + Hillebrand, II, p. 537; Kurz, III, p. 504; Koberstein, IV, pp. + 168 f. and V, pp. 94 f.] + + [Footnote 72: The “_Magazin der deutschen Critik_” denied the + imitation altogether.] + + [Footnote 73: I, p. 178.] + + [Footnote 74: I, p. 117.] + + [Footnote 75: I, pp. 148 ff.] + + [Footnote 76: I, p. 17.] + + [Footnote 77: III, pp. 99-104.] + + [Footnote 78: II, p. 44.] + + [Footnote 79: For reviews of “Tobias Knaut” see _Gothaische + Gelehrte Zeitung_, April 13, 1774, pp. 193-5; _Magazin der + deutschen Critik_, III, 1, p. 185 (1774); _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, + April 5, 1774, pp. 228-30; _Almanach der deutschen Musen_, 1775, + p. 75; _Leipziger Musen-Almanach_, 1776, pp. 68-69; _Allg. + deutsche Bibl._, XXX, 2, pp. 524 ff., by Biester; _Teut. Merkur_, + V, pp. 344-5; VII, p. 361-2, 1776, pp. 272-3, by Merck.] + + [Footnote 80: Berlin, nine parts, 1775-1785. Vol I, pp. 128 + (1775); Vol. II, pp. 122; Vol. III, pp. 141; Vol. IV, pp. 198 + (1779); Vols. V and VI, 1780; Vols. I and II were published in a + new edition in 1778, and Vol. III in 1780 (a third edition).] + + [Footnote 81: XXIX, 1, p. 186; XXXVI, 2, p. 601; XLIII, 1, p. 301; + XLVI, 2, p. 602; LXII, 1, p. 307.] + + [Footnote 82: See p. 8.] + + [Footnote 83: 1777, II, p. 278, review of Vols. II and III. Vol. + I is reviewed in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._, 1775, p. 719-20 (October + 31), and IX in _Allg. Litt.-Zeitung_, Jena, 1785, V, + Supplement-Band, p. 80.] + + [Footnote 84: See p. 89.] + + [Footnote 85: Briefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleims Nachlass. + (Zürich, 1806.)] + + [Footnote 86: Emil Kuh’s life of Hebbel, Wien, 1877, I, + p. 117-118.] + + [Footnote 87: The “Empfindsame Reise der Prinzessin Ananas nach + Gros-glogau” (Riez, 1798, pp. 68, by Gräfin Lichterau?) in its + revolting loathesomeness and satirical meanness is an example of + the vulgarity which could parade under the name. In 1801 we find + “Prisen aus der hörneren Dose des gesunden Menschenverstandes,” + a series of letters of advice from father to son. A play of + Stephanie the younger, “Der Eigensinnige,” produced January 29, + 1774, is said to have connection with Tristram Shandy; if so, it + would seem to be the sole example of direct adaptation from Sterne + to the German stage. “Neue Schauspiele.” Pressburg and Leipzig, + 1771-75, Vol. X.] + + [Footnote 88: P. 185, edition of 1805.] + + [Footnote 89: See below p. 166-7.] + + [Footnote 90: Hannover, 1792, pp. 80, 263.] + + [Footnote 91: LXVI, p. 79, 1801.] + + [Footnote 92: Sometime after the completion of this present essay + there was published in Berlin, a study of “Sterne, Hippel and Jean + Paul,” by J. Czerny (1904). I have not yet had an opportunity to + examine it.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +OPPOSITION TO STERNE AND HIS TYPE OF SENTIMENTALISM + + +Sterne’s influence in Germany lived its own life, and gradually and +imperceptibly died out of letters, as an actuating principle. Yet its +dominion was not achieved without some measure of opposition. The +sweeping condemnation which the soberer critics heaped upon the +incapacities of his imitators has been exemplified in the accounts +already given of Schummel, Bock and others. It would be interesting to +follow a little more closely this current of antagonism. The tone of +protest was largely directed, the edge of satire was chiefly whetted, +against the misunderstanding adaptation of Yorick’s ways of thinking and +writing, and only here and there were voices raised to detract in any +way from the genius of Sterne. He never suffered in Germany such an +eclipse of fame as was his fate in England. He was to the end of the +chapter a recognized prophet, an uplifter and leader. The far-seeing, +clear-minded critics, as Lessing, Goethe and Herder, expressed +themselves quite unequivocally in this regard, and there was later no +withdrawal of former appreciation. Indeed, Goethe’s significant words +already quoted came from the last years of his life, when the new +century had learned to smile almost incredulously at the relation of a +bygone folly. + +In the very heyday of Sterne’s popularity, 1772, a critic of Wieland’s +“Diogenes” in the _Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen +Litteratur_[1] bewails Wieland’s imitation of Yorick, whom the critic +deems a far inferior writer, “Sterne, whose works will disappear, while +Wieland’s masterpieces are still the pleasure of latest posterity.” This +review of “Diogenes” is, perhaps, rather more an exaggerated compliment +to Wieland than a studied blow at Sterne, and this thought is recognized +by the reviewer in the _Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen_,[2] who +designates the compliment as “dubious” and “insulting,” especially in +view of Wieland’s own personal esteem for Sterne. Yet these words, even +as a relative depreciation of Sterne during the period of his most +universal popularity, are not insignificant. Heinrich Leopold Wagner, +a tutor at Saarbrücken, in 1770, records that one member of a reading +club which he had founded “regarded his taste as insulted because I sent +him “Yorick’s Empfindsame Reise.”[3] But Wagner regarded this instance +as a proof of Saarbrücken ignorance, stupidity and lack of taste; hence +the incident is but a wavering testimony when one seeks to determine the +amount and nature of opposition to Yorick. + +We find another derogatory fling at Sterne himself and a regret at the +extent of his influence in an anonymous book entitled “Betrachtungen +über die englischen Dichter,”[4] published at the end of the great +Yorick decade. The author compares Sterne most unfavorably with Addison: +“If the humor of the _Spectator_ and _Tatler_ be set off against the +digressive whimsicality of Sterne,” he says, “it is, as if one of the +Graces stood beside a Bacchante. And yet the pampered taste of the +present day takes more pleasure in a Yorick than in an Addison.” But a +reviewer in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[5] discounts this +author’s criticisms of men of established fame, such as Shakespeare, +Swift, Yorick, and suggests youth, or brief acquaintance with English +literature, as occasion for his inadequate judgments. Indeed, Yorick +disciples were quick to resent any shadow cast upon his name. Thus the +remark in a letter printed in the _Deutsches Museum_ that Asmus was the +German Yorick “only a better moral character,” called forth a long +article in the same periodical for September, 1779, by L. H. N.,[6] +vigorously defending Sterne as a man and a writer. The greatness of his +human heart and the breadth and depth of his sympathies are given as the +unanswerable proofs of his moral worth. This defense is vehemently +seconded in the same magazine by Joseph von Retzer. + +The one great opponent of the whole sentimental tendency, whose censure +of Sterne’s disciples involved also a denunciation of the master +himself, was the Göttingen professor, Georg Christopher Lichtenberg.[7] +In his inner nature Lichtenberg had much in common with Sterne and +Sterne’s imitators in Germany, with the whole ecstatic, eccentric +movement of the time. Julian Schmidt[8] says: “So much is sure, at any +rate, that the greatest adversary of the new literature was of one flesh +and blood with it.”[9] But his period of residence in England shortly +after Sterne’s death and his association then and afterwards with +Englishmen of eminence render his attitude toward Sterne in large +measure an English one, and make an idealization either of the man or of +his work impossible for him. + +The contradiction between the greatness of heart evinced in Sterne’s +novels and the narrow selfishness of the author himself is repeatedly +noted by Lichtenberg. His knowledge of Sterne’s character was derived +from acquaintance with many of Yorick’s intimate friends in London. In +“Beobachtungen über den Menschen,” he says: “I can’t help smiling when +the good souls who read Sterne with tears of rapture in their eyes fancy +that he is mirroring himself in his book. Sterne’s simplicity, his warm +heart, over-flowing with feeling, his soul, sympathizing with everything +good and noble, and all the other expressions, whatever they may be; and +the sigh ‘Alas, poor Yorick,’ which expresses everything at once--have +become proverbial among us Germans. . . . Yorick was a crawling +parasite, a flatterer of the great, an unendurable burr on the clothing +of those upon whom he had determined to sponge!”[10] + +In “Timorus” he calls Sterne “ein scandalum Ecclesiae”;[11] he doubts +the reality of Sterne’s nobler emotions and condemns him as a clever +juggler with words, who by artful manipulation of certain devices +aroused in us sympathy, and he snatches away the mask of loving, hearty +sympathy and discloses the grinning mountebank. With keen insight into +Sterne’s mind and method, he lays down a law by which, he says, it is +always possible to discover whether the author of a touching passage has +really been moved himself, or has merely with astute knowledge of the +human heart drawn our tears by a sly choice of touching features.[12] + +Akin to this is the following passage in which the author is +unquestionably thinking of Sterne, although he does not mention him: +“A heart ever full of kindly feeling is the greatest gift which Heaven +can bestow; on the other hand, the itching to keep scribbling about it, +and to fancy oneself great in this scribbling is one of the greatest +punishments which can be inflicted upon one who writes.”[13] He exposes +the heartlessness of Sterne’s pretended sympathy: “A three groschen +piece is ever better than a tear,”[14] and “sympathy is a poor kind of +alms-giving,”[15] are obviously thoughts suggested by Yorick’s +sentimentalism.[16] + +The folly of the “Lorenzodosen” is several times mentioned with open or +covert ridicule[17] and the imitators of Sterne are repeatedly told the +fruitlessness of their endeavor and the absurdity of their +accomplishment.[18] His “Vorschlag zu einem Orbis Pictus für deutsche +dramatische Schriftsteller, Romanendichter und Schauspieler”[19] is a +satire on the lack of originality among those who boasted of it, and +sought to win attention through pure eccentricities. + +The Fragments[20] are concerned, as the editors say, with an evil of the +literature in those days, the period of the Sentimentalists and the +“Kraftgenies.” Among the seven fragments may be noted: “Lorenzo +Eschenheimers empfindsame Reise nach Laputa,” a clever satirical sketch +in the manner of Swift, bitterly castigating that of which the English +people claim to be the discoverers (sentimental journeying) and the +Germans think themselves the improvers. In “Bittschrift der +Wahnsinnigen” and “Parakletor” the unwholesome literary tendencies of +the age are further satirized. His brief essay, “Ueber die +Vornamen,”[21] is confessedly suggested by Sterne and the sketch “Dass +du auf dem Blockberg wärst,”[22] with its mention of the green book +entitled “Echte deutsche Flüche und Verwünschungen für alle Stände,” is +manifestly to be connected in its genesis with Sterne’s famous +collection of oaths.[23] Lichtenberg’s comparison of Sterne and Fielding +is familiar and significant.[24] “Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass: Aufsätze, +Gedichte, Tagebuchblätter, Briefe,” edited by Albert Leitzmann,[25] +contains additional mention of Sterne. + +The name of Helfreich Peter Sturz may well be coupled with that of +Lichtenberg, as an opponent of the Sterne cult and its German +distortions, for his information and point of view were likewise drawn +direct from English sources. Sturz accompanied King Christian VII of +Denmark on his journey to France and England, which lasted from May 6, +1768, to January 14, 1769[26]; hence his stay in England falls in a time +but a few months after Sterne’s death (March 18, 1768), when the +ungrateful metropolis was yet redolent of the late lion’s wit and humor. +Sturz was an accomplished linguist and a complete master of English, +hence found it easy to associate with Englishmen of distinction whom he +was privileged to meet through the favor of his royal patron. He became +acquainted with Garrick, who was one of Sterne’s intimate friends, and +from him Sturz learned much of Yorick, especially that more wholesome +revulsion of feeling against Sterne’s obscenities and looseness of +speech, which set in on English soil as soon as the potent personality +of the author himself had ceased to compel silence and blind opinion. +England began to wonder at its own infatuation, and, gaining +perspective, to view the writings of Sterne in a more rational light. +Into the first spread of this reaction Sturz was introduced, and the +estimate of Sterne which he carried away with him was undoubtedly + by it. In his second letter written to the _Deutsches Museum_ +and dated August 24, 1768, but strangely not printed till April, +1777,[27] he quotes Garrick with reference to Sterne, a notable word of +personal censure, coming in the Germany of that decade, when Yorick’s +admirers were most vehement in their claims. Garrick called him “a lewd +companion, who was more loose in his intercourse than in his writings +and generally drove all ladies away by his obscenities.”[28] Sturz adds +that all his acquaintances asserted that Sterne’s moral character went +through a process of disintegration in London. + +In the _Deutsches Museum_ for July, 1776, Sturz printed a poem entitled +“Die Mode,” in which he treats of the slavery of fashion and in several +stanzas deprecates the influence of Yorick.[29] + + “Und so schwingt sich, zum Genie erklärt, + Strephon kühn auf Yorick’s Steckenpferd. + Trabt mäandrisch über Berg und Auen, + Reist empfindsam durch sein Dorfgebiet, + Oder singt die Jugend zu erbauen + Ganz Gefühl dem Gartengott ein Lied. + Gott der Gärten, stöhnt die Bürgerin, + Lächle gütig, Rasen und Schasmin + Haucht Gerüche! Fliehet Handlungssorgen, + Dass mein Liebster heute noch in Ruh + Sein Mark-Einsaz-Lomber spiele--Morgen, + Schliessen wir die Unglücksbude zu!” + +A passage at the end of the appendix to the twelfth Reisebrief is +further indication of his opposition to and his contempt for the frenzy +of German sentimentalism. + +The poems of Goeckingk contain allusions[30] to Sterne, to be sure +partly indistinctive and insignificant, which, however, tend in the main +to a ridicule of the Yorick cult and place their author ultimately among +the satirical opponents of sentimentalism. In the “Epistel an Goldhagen +in Petershage,” 1771, he writes: + + “Doch geb ich wohl zu überlegen, + Was für den Weisen besser sey: + Die Welt wie Yorick mit zu nehmen? + Nach Königen, wie Diogen, + Sich keinen Fuss breit zu bequemen,”-- + +a query which suggests the hesitant point of view relative to the +advantage of Yorick’s excess of universal sympathy. In “Will auch ’n +Genie werden” the poet steps out more unmistakably as an adversary of +the movement and as a skeptical observer of the exercise of Yorick-like +sympathy. + + “Doch, ich Patronus, merkt das wohl, + Geh, im zerrissnen Kittel, + Hab’ aber alle Taschen voll + Yorickischer Capittel. + Doch lass’ ich, wenn mir’s Kurzweil schafft, + Die Hülfe fleh’nden Armen + Durch meinen Schweitzer, Peter Kraft, + Zerprügeln ohn’ Erbarmen.” + +Goeckingk openly satirizes the sentimental cult in the poem “Der +Empfindsame” + + “Herr Mops, der um das dritte Wort + Empfindsamkeit im Munde führet, + Und wenn ein Grashalm ihm verdorrt, + Gleich einen Thränenstrom verlieret-- + . . . . . . . . + Mit meinem Weibchen thut er schier + Gleich so bekannt wie ein Franzose; + All’ Augenblicke bot er ihr + Toback aus eines Bettlers Dose + Mit dem, am Zaun in tiefem Schlaf + Er einen Tausch wie Yorik traf. + Der Unempfindsamkeit zum Hohn + Hielt er auf eine Mück’ im Glase + Beweglich einen Leichsermon, + Purrt’ eine Flieg’ ihm an der Nase, + Macht’ er das Fenster auf, und sprach: + Zieh Oheim Toby’s Fliege nach! + Durch Mops ist warlich meine Magd + Nicht mehr bey Trost, nicht mehr bey Sinnen + So sehr hat ihr sein Lob behagt, + Dass sie empfindsam allen Spinnen + Zu meinem Hause, frank und frey + Verstattet ihre Weberey. + Er trat mein Hündchen auf das Bein, + Hilf Himmel! Welch’ ein Lamentiren! + Es hätte mögen einen Stein + Der Strasse zum Erbarmen rühren, + Auch wedelt’ ihm in einem Nu + Das Hündgen schon Vergebung zu. + Ach! Hündchen, du beschämst mich sehr, + Denn dass mir Mops von meinem Leben + Drey Stunden stahl, wie schwer, wie schwer, + Wird’s halten, das ihm zu vergeben? + Denn Spinnen werden oben ein + Wohl gar noch meine Mörder seyn.” + +This poem is a rather successful bit of ridicule cast on the +over-sentimental who sought to follow Yorick’s foot-prints. + +The other allusions to Sterne[31] are concerned with his hobby-horse +idea, for this seems to gain the poet’s approbation and to have no share +in his censure. + +The dangers of overwrought sentimentality, of heedless surrender to the +emotions and reveling in their exercise,--perils to whose magnitude +Sterne so largely contributed--were grasped by saner minds, and +energetic protest was entered against such degradation of mind and +futile expenditure of feeling. + +Joachim Heinrich Campe, the pedagogical theorist, published in 1779[32] +a brochure, “Ueber Empfindsamkeit und Empfindelei in pädagogischer +Hinsicht,” in which he deprecates the tendency of “Empfindsamkeit” to +degenerate into “Empfindelei,” and explains at some length the +deleterious effects of an unbridled “Empfindsamkeit” and an unrestrained +outpouring of sympathetic emotions which finds no actual expression, no +relief in deeds. The substance of this warning essay is repeated, often +word for word, but considerably amplified with new material, and +rendered more convincing by increased breadth of outlook and +positiveness of assertion, the fruit of six years of observation and +reflection, as part of a treatise, entitled, “Von der nöthigen Sorge für +die Erhaltung des Gleichgewichts unter den menschlichen Kräften: +Besondere Warnung vor dem Modefehler die Empfindsamkeit zu überspannen.��� +It is in the third volume of the “Allgemeine Revision des gesammten +Schul- und Erziehungswesens.”[33] The differentiation between +“Empfindsamkeit” and “Empfindelei” is again and more accessibly repeated +in Campe’s later work, “Ueber die Reinigung und Bereicherung der +deutschen Sprache.”[34] In the second form of this essay (1785) Campe +speaks of the sentimental fever as an epidemic by no means entirely +cured. + +His analysis of “Empfindsamkeit” is briefly as follows: “Empfindsamkeit +ist die Empfänglichkeit zu Empfindnissen, in denen etwas Sittliches d.i. +Freude oder Schmerz über etwas sittlich Gutes oder sittlich Böses, ist;” +yet in common use the term is applied only to a certain high degree of +such susceptibility. This sensitiveness is either in harmony or discord +with the other powers of the body, especially with the reason: if +equilibrium is maintained, this sensitiveness is a fair, worthy, +beneficent capacity (Fähigkeit); if exalted over other forces, it +becomes to the individual and to society the most destructive and +baneful gift which refinement and culture may bestow. Campe proposes to +limit the use of the word “Empfindsamkeit” to the justly proportioned +manifestation of this susceptibility; the irrational, exaggerated +development he would designate “überspannte Empfindsamkeit.” +“Empfindelei,” he says, “ist Empfindsamkeit, die sich auf eine +kleinliche alberne, vernunftlose und lächerliche Weise, also da äussert, +wo sie nicht hingehörte.” Campe goes yet further in his distinctions and +invents the monstrous word, “Empfindsamlichkeit” for the sentimentality +which is superficial, affected, sham (geheuchelte). Campe’s newly coined +word was never accepted, and in spite of his own efforts and those of +others to honor the word “Empfindsamkeit” and restrict it to the +commendable exercise of human sympathy, the opposite process was +victorious and “Empfindsamkeit,” maligned and scorned, came to mean +almost exclusively, unless distinctly modified, both what Campe +designates as “überspannte Empfindsamkeit” and “Empfindelei,” and also +the absurd hypocrisy of the emotions which he seeks to cover with his +new word. Campe’s farther consideration contains a synopsis of method +for distinguishing “Empfindsamkeit” from “Empfindelei:” in the first +place through the manner of their incitement,--the former is natural, +the latter is fantastic, working without sense of the natural properties +of things. In this connection he instances as examples, Yorick’s feeling +of shame after his heartless and wilful treatment of Father Lorenzo, +and, in contrast with this, the shallowness of Sterne’s imitators who +whimpered over the death of a violet, and stretched out their arms and +threw kisses to the moon and stars. In the second place they are +distinguished in the manner of their expression: “Empfindsamkeit” is +“secret, unpretentious, laconic and serious;” the latter attracts +attention, is theatrical, voluble, whining, vain. Thirdly, they are +known by their fruits, in the one case by deeds, in the other by shallow +pretension. In the latter part of his volume, Campe treats the problem +of preventing the perverted form of sensibility by educative endeavor. + +The word “Empfindsamkeit” was afterwards used sometimes simply as an +equivalent of “Empfindung,” or sensation, without implication of the +manner of sensing: for example one finds in the _Morgenblatt_[35] a poem +named “Empfindsamkeiten am Rheinfalle vom Felsen der Galerie +abgeschrieben.” In the poem various travelers are made to express their +thoughts in view of the waterfall. A poet cries, “Ye gods, what a hell +of waters;” a tradesman, “away with the rock;” a Briton complains of the +“confounded noise,” and so on. It is plain that the word suffered a +generalization of meaning. + +A poetical expression of Campe’s main message is found in a book called +“Winterzeitvertreib eines königlichen preussischen Offiziers.”[36] +A poem entitled “Das empfindsame Herz” (p. 210) has the following lines: + + “Freund, ein empfindsames Herz ist nicht für diese Welt, + Von Schelmen wird’s verlacht, von Thoren wirds geprellt, + Doch üb’ im Stillen das, was seine Stimme spricht. + Dein Lohn ist dir gewiss, nur hier auf Erden nicht.” + +In a similar vein of protest is the letter of G. Hartmann[37] to Denis, +dated Tübingen, February 10, 1773, in which the writer condemns the +affected sentimentalism of Jacobi and others as damaging to morals. +“O best teacher,” he pleads with Denis, “continue to represent these +performances as unworthy.” + +Möser in his “Patriotische Phantasien”[38] represents himself as +replying to a maid-in-waiting who writes in distress about her young +mistress, because the latter is suffering from “epidemic” +sentimentalism, and is absurdly unreasonable in her practical incapacity +and her surrender to her feelings. Möser’s sound advice is the +substitution of genuine emotion. The whole section is entitled “Für die +Empfindsamen.” + +Knigge, in his “Umgang mit Menschen,” plainly has those Germans in mind +who saw in Uncle Toby’s treatment of the fly an incentive to +unreasonable emphasis upon the relations between man and the animal +world, when, in the chapter on the treatment of animals, he protests +against the silly, childish enthusiasm of those who cannot see a hen +killed, but partake of fowl greedily on the table, or who passionately +open the window for a fly.[39] A work was also translated from the +French of Mistelet, which dealt with the problem of “Empfindsamkeit:” +it was entitled “Ueber die Empfindsamkeit in Rücksicht auf das Drama, +die Romane und die Erziehung.”[40] An article condemning exaggerated +sentimentality was published in the _Deutsches Museum_ for February, +1783, under the title “Etwas über deutsche Empfindsamkeit.” + +Goethe’s “Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit” is a merry satire on the +sentimental movement, but is not to be connected directly with Sterne, +since Goethe is more particularly concerned with the petty imitators of +his own “Werther.” Baumgartner in his Life of Goethe asserts that +Sterne’s Sentimental Journey was one of the books found inside the +ridiculous doll which the love-sick Prince Oronaro took about with him. +This is not a necessary interpretation, for Andrason, when he took up +the first book, exclaimed merely “Empfindsamkeiten,” and, as Strehlke +observes,[41] it is not necessary here to think of a single work, +because the term was probably used in a general way, referring possibly +to a number of then popular imitations. + +The satires on “Empfindsamkeit” began to grow numerous at the end of the +seventies and the beginning of the eighties, so that the _Allgemeine +Litteratur-Zeitung_, in October, 1785, feels justified in remarking that +such attempts are gradually growing as numerous as the “Empfindsame +Romane” themselves, and wishes, “so may they rot together in a +grave of oblivion.”[42] Anton Reiser, the hero of Karl Philipp +Moritz’sautobiographical novel (Berlin, 1785-90), begins a satire on +affected sentimentalism, which was to bring shafts of ridicule to bear +on the popular sham, and to throw appreciative light on the real +manifestation of genuine feeling.[43] A kindred satire was “Die +Geschichte eines Genies,” Leipzig, 1780, two volumes, in which the +prevailing fashion of digression is incidentally satirized.[44] + +The most extensive satire on the sentimental movement, and most vehement +protest against its excesses is the four volume novel, “Der +Empfindsame,”[45] published anonymously in Erfurt, 1781-3, but +acknowledged in the introduction to the fourth volume by its author, +Christian Friedrich Timme. He had already published one novel in which +he exemplified in some measure characteristics of the novelists whom he +later sought to condemn and satirize, that is, this first novel, +“Faramond’s Familiengeschichte,”[46] is digressive and episodical. “Der +Empfindsame” is much too bulky to be really effective as a satire; the +reiteration of satirical jibes, the repetition of satirical motifs +slightly varied, or thinly veiled, recoil upon the force of the work +itself and injure the effect. The maintenance of a single satire through +the thirteen to fourteen hundred pages which four such volumes contain +is a Herculean task which we can associate only with a genius like +Cervantes. Then, too, Timme is an excellent narrator, and his original +purpose is constantly obscured by his own interest and the reader’s +interest in Timme’s own story, in his original creations, in the variety +of his characters. These obtrude upon the original aim of the book and +absorb the action of the story in such a measure that Timme often for +whole chapters and sections seems to forget entirely the convention of +his outsetting. + +His attack is threefold, the centers of his opposition being “Werther,” +“Siegwart” and Sterne, as represented by their followers and imitators. +But the campaign is so simple, and the satirist has been to such trouble +to label with care the direction of his own blows, that it is not +difficult to separate the thrusts intended for each of his foes. + +Timme’s initial purpose is easily illustrated by reference to his first +chapter, where his point of view is compactly put and the soundness of +his critical judgment and the forcefulness of his satirical bent are +unequivocally demonstrated: This chapter, which, as he says, “may serve +instead of preface and introduction,” is really both, for the narrative +really begins only in the second chapter. “Every nation, every age,” +he says, “has its own doll as a plaything for its children, and +sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit) is ours.” Then with lightness and grace, +coupled with unquestionable critical acumen, he traces briefly the +growth of “Empfindsamkeit” in Germany. “Kaum war der liebenswürdige +Sterne auf sein Steckenpferd gestiegen, und hatte es uns vorgeritten; +so versammelten sich wie gewöhnlich in Teutschland alle Jungen an ihn +herum, hingen sich an ihn, oder schnizten sich sein Steckenpferd in der +Geschwindigkeit nach, oder brachen Stecken vom nächsten Zaun oder rissen +aus einem Reissigbündel den ersten besten Prügel, setzten sich darauf +und ritten mit einer solchen Wut hinter ihm drein, dass sie einen +Luftwirbel veranlassten, der alles, was ihm zu nahe kam, wie ein +reissender Strom mit sich fortris, wär es nur unter den Jungen +geblieben, so hätte es noch sein mögen; aber unglücklicherweise fanden +auch Männer Geschmack an dem artigen Spielchen, sprangen vom ihrem Weg +ab und ritten mit Stok und Degen und Amtsperüken unter den Knaben +einher. Freilich erreichte keiner seinen Meister, den sie sehr bald aus +dem Gesicht verloren, und nun die possirlichsten Sprünge von der Welt +machen und doch bildet sich jeder der Affen ein, er reite so schön wie +der Yorick.”[47] + +This lively description of Sterne’s part in this uprising is, perhaps, +the best brief characterization of the phenomenon and is all the more +significant as coming from the pen of a contemporary, and written only +about a decade after the inception of the sentimental movement as +influenced and furthered by the translation of the Sentimental Journey. +It represents a remarkable critical insight into contemporaneous +literary movements, the rarest of all critical gifts, but it has been +overlooked by investigators who have sought and borrowed brief words to +characterize the epoch.[48] + +The contribution of “Werther” and “Siegwart” to the sentimental frenzy +are even as succinctly and graphically designated; the latter book, +published in 1776, is held responsible for a recrudescence of the +phenomenon, because it gave a new direction, a new tone to the faltering +outbursts of Sterne’s followers and indicated a more comprehensible and +hence more efficient, outlet for their sentimentalism. Now again, “every +nook resounded with the whining sentimentality, with sighs, kisses, +forget-me-nots, moonshine, tears and ecstasies;” those hearts excited by +Yorick’s gospel, gropingly endeavoring to find an outlet for their own +emotions which, in their opinion were characteristic of their arouser +and stimulator, found through “Siegwart” a solution of their problem, +a relief for their emotional excess. + +Timme insists that his attack is only on Yorick’s mistaken followers and +not on Sterne himself. He contrasts the man and his imitators at the +outset sharply by comments on a quotation from the novel, “Fragmente zur +Geschichte der Zärtlichkeit”[49] as typifying the outcry of these petty +imitators against the heartlessness of their misunderstanding +critics,--“Sanfter, dultender Yorick,” he cries, “das war nicht deine +Sprache! Du priesest dich nicht mit einer pharisäischen +Selbstgenügsamkeit und schimpftest nicht auf die, die dir nicht ähnlich +waren, ‘Doch! sprachst Du am Grabe Lorenzos, doch ich bin so weichherzig +wie ein Weib, aber ich bitte die Welt nicht zu lachen, sondern mich zu +bedauern!’ Ruhe deinem Staube, sanfter, liebevoller Dulter! und nur +einen Funken deines Geistes deinen Affen.”[50] He writes not for the +“gentle, tender souls on whom the spirit of Yorick rests,”[51] for those +whose feelings are easily aroused and who make quick emotional return, +who love and do the good, the beautiful, the noble; but for those who +“bei dem wonnigen Wehen und Anhauchen der Gottheithaltenden Natur, in +huldigem Liebessinn und himmelsüssem Frohsein dahin schmelzt . . die ihr +vom Sang der Liebe, von Mondschein und Tränen euch nährt,” etc., +etc.[52] In these few words he discriminates between the man and his +influence, and outlines his intentions to satirize and chastise the +insidious disease which had fastened itself upon the literature of the +time. This passage, with its implied sincerity of appreciation for the +real Yorick, is typical of Timme’s attitude throughout the book, and his +concern lest he should appear at any time to draw the English novelist +into his condemnation leads him to reiterate this statement of purpose +and to insist upon the contrast. + +Brükmann, a young theological student, for a time an intimate of the +Kurt home, is evidently intended to represent the soberer, well-balanced +thought of the time in opposition to the feverish sentimental frenzy of +the Kurt household. He makes an exception of Yorick in his condemnation +of the literary favorites, the popular novelists of that day, but he +deplores the effects of misunderstood imitation of Yorick’s work, and +argues his case with vehemence against this sentimental group.[53] +Brükmann differentiates too the different kinds of sentimentalism and +their effects in much the same fashion as Campe in his treatise +published two years before.[54] In all this Brükmann may be regarded as +the mouth-piece of the author. The clever daughter of the gentleman who +entertains Pank at his home reads a satirical poem on the then popular +literature, but expressly disclaims any attack on Yorick or “Siegwart,” +and asserts that her bitterness is intended for their imitators. Lotte, +Pank’s sensible and unsentimental, long-suffering fiancée, makes further +comment on the “apes” of Yorick, “Werther,” and “Siegwart.” + +The unfolding of the story is at the beginning closely suggestive of +Tristram Shandy and is evidently intended to follow the Sterne novel in +a measure as a model. As has already been suggested, Timme’s own +narrative powers balk the continuity of the satire, but aid the interest +and the movement of the story. The movement later is, in large measure, +simple and direct. The hero is first introduced at his christening, and +the discussion of fitting names in the imposing family council is taken +from Walter Shandy’s hobby. The narrative here, in Sterne fashion, is +interrupted by a Shandean digression[55] concerning the influence of +clergymen’s collars and neck-bands upon the thoughts and minds of their +audiences. Such questions of chance influence of trifles upon the +greater events of life is a constant theme of speculation among the +pragmatics; no petty detail is overlooked in the possibility of its +portentous consequences. Walter Shandy’s hyperbolic philosophy turned +about such a focus, the exaltation of insignificant trifles into +mainsprings of action. Shandy bristles with such discussions. + +In Shandy fashion the story doubles on itself after the introduction and +gives minute details of young Kurt’s family and the circumstances prior +to his birth. The later discussion[56] in the family council concerning +the necessary qualities in the tutor to be hired for the young Kurt is +distinctly a borrowing from Shandy.[57] Timme imitates Sterne’s method +of ridiculing pedantry; the requirements listed by the Diaconus and the +professor are touches of Walter Shandy’s misapplied, warped, and +undigested wisdom. In the nineteenth chapter of the third volume[58] we +find a Sterne passage associating itself with Shandy rather more than +the Sentimental Journey. It is a playful thrust at a score of places in +Shandy in which the author converses with the reader about the progress +of the book, and allows the mechanism of book-printing and the vagaries +of publishers to obtrude themselves upon the relation between writer and +reader. As a reminiscence of similar promises frequent in Shandy, the +author promises in the first chapter of the fourth volume to write a +book with an eccentric title dealing with a list of absurdities.[59] + +But by far the greater proportion of the allusions to Sterne associate +themselves with the Sentimental Journey. A former acquaintance of Frau +Kurt, whose favorite reading was Shandy, Wieland’s “Sympatien” and the +Sentimental Journey, serves to satirize the influence of Yorick’s ass +episode; this gentleman wept at the sight of an ox at work, and never +ate meat lest he might incur the guilt of the murder of these sighing +creatures.[60] + +The most constantly recurring form of satire is that of contradiction +between the sentimental expression of elevated, universal sympathy and +broader humanity and the failure to seize an immediately presented +opportunity to embody desire in deed. Thus Frau Kurt,[61] buried in +“Siegwart,” refuses persistently to be disturbed by those in immediate +need of a succoring hand. Pankraz and his mother while on a drive +discover an old man weeping inconsolably over the death of his dog.[62] +The scene of the dead ass at Nampont occurs at once to Madame Kurt and +she compares the sentimental content of these two experiences in +deprivation, finding the palm of sympathy due to the melancholy +dog-bewailer before her, thereby exalting the sentimental privilege of +her own experience as a witness. Quoting Yorick, she cries: “Shame on +the world! If men only loved one another as this man loves his dog!”[63] +At this very moment the reality of her sympathy is put to the test by +the approach of a wretched woman bearing a wretched child, begging for +assistance, but Frau Kurt, steeped in the delight of her sympathetic +emotion, repulses her rudely. Pankraz, on going home, takes his Yorick +and reads again the chapter containing the dead-ass episode; he spends +much time in determining which event was the more affecting, and tears +flow at the thought of both animals. In the midst of his vehement curses +on “unempfindsame Menschen,” “a curse upon you, you hard-hearted +monsters, who treat God’s creatures unkindly,” etc., he rebukes the +gentle advances of his pet cat Riepel, rebuffs her for disturbing his +“Wonnegefühl,” in such a heartless and cruel way that, through an +accident in his rapt delight at human sympathy, the ultimate result is +the poor creature’s death by his own fault. + +In the second volume[64] Timme repeats this method of satire, varying +conditions only, yet forcing the matter forward, ultimately, into the +grotesque comic, but again taking his cue from Yorick’s narrative about +the ass at Nampont, acknowledging specifically his linking of the +adventure of Madame Kurt to the episode in the Sentimental Journey. Frau +Kurt’s ardent sympathy is aroused for a goat drawing a wagon, and driven +by a peasant. She endeavors to interpret the sighs of the beast and +finally insists upon the release of the animal, which she asserts is +calling to her for aid. The poor goat’s parting bleat after its +departing owner is construed as a curse on the latter’s hardheartedness. +Frau Kurt embraces and kisses the animal. During the whole scene the +neighboring village is in flames, houses are consumed and poor people +rendered homeless, but Frau Kurt expresses no concern, even regarding +the catastrophe as a merited affliction, because of the villagers’ lack +of sympathy with their domestic animals. The same means of satire is +again employed in the twelfth chapter of the same volume.[65] Pankraz, +overcome with pain because Lotte, his betrothed, fails to unite in his +sentimental enthusiasm and persists in common-sense, tries to bury his +grief in a wild ride through night and storm. His horse tramples +ruthlessly on a poor old man in the road; the latter cries for help, but +Pank, buried in contemplation of Lotte’s lack of sensibility, turns a +deaf ear to the appeal. + +In the seventeenth chapter of the third volume, a sentimental journey is +proposed, and most of the fourth volume is an account of this +undertaking and the events arising from its complications. Pankraz’s +adventures are largely repetitions of former motifs, and illustrate the +fate indissolubly linked with an imitation of Sterne’s related converse +with the fair sex.[66] + +The journey runs, after a few adventures, over into an elaborate +practical joke in which Pankraz himself is burlesqued by his +contemporaries. Timme carries his poignancy and keenness of satire over +into bluntness of burlesque blows in a large part of these closing +scenes. Pankraz loses the sympathy of the reader, involuntarily and +irresistibly conceded him, and becomes an inhuman freak of absurdity, +beyond our interest.[67] + +Pankraz is brought into disaster by his slavish following of suggestions +aroused through fancied parallels between his own circumstances and +those related of Yorick. He finds a sorrowing woman[68] sitting, like +Maria of Moulines, beneath a poplar tree. Pankraz insists upon carrying +out this striking analogy farther, which the woman, though she betrays +no knowledge of the Sentimental Journey, is not loath to accede to, as +it coincides with her own nefarious purposes. Timme in the following +scene strikes a blow at the abjectly sensual involved in much of the +then sentimental, unrecognized and unrealized. + +Pankraz meets a man carrying a cage of monkeys.[69] He buys the poor +creatures from their master, even as Frau Kurt had purchased the goat. +The similarity to the Starling narrative in Sterne’s volume fills +Pankraz’s heart with glee. The Starling wanted to get out and so do his +monkeys, and Pankraz’s only questions are: “What did Yorick do?” “What +would he do?” He resolves to do more than is recorded of Yorick, release +the prisoners at all costs. Yorick’s monolog occurs to him and he +parodies it. The animals greet their release in the thankless way +natural to them,--a point already enforced in the conduct of Frau Kurt’s +goat. + +In the last chapter of the third volume Sterne’s relationship to “Eliza” +is brought into the narrative. Pankraz writes a letter wherein he +declares amid exaggerated expressions of bliss that he has found +“Elisa,” his “Elisa.” This is significant as showing that the name Eliza +needed no further explanation, but, from the popularity of the +Yorick-Eliza letters and the wide-spread admiration of the relation, the +name Eliza was accepted as a type of that peculiar feminine relation +which existed between Sterne and Mrs. Draper, and which appealed to +Sterne’s admirers. + +Pankraz’s new Order of the Garter, born of his wild frenzy[70] of +devotion over this article of Elisa’s wearing apparel, is an open satire +on Leuchsenring’s and Jacobi’s silly efforts noted elsewhere. The garter +was to bear Elisa’s silhouette and the device “Orden vom Strumpfband der +empfindsamen Liebe.” + +The elaborate division of moral preachers[71] into classes may be +further mentioned as an adaptation from Sterne, cast in Yorick’s +mock-scientific manner. + +A consideration of these instances of allusion and adaptation with a +view to classification, reveals a single line of demarkation obvious and +unaltered. And this line divides the references to Sterne’s sentimental +influence from those to his whimsicality of narration, his vagaries of +thought; that is, it follows inevitably, and represents precisely the +two aspects of Sterne as an individual, and as an innovator in the world +of letters. But that a line of cleavage is further equally discernible +in the treatment of these two aspects is not to be overlooked. On the +one hand is the exaggerated, satirical, burlesque; on the other the +modified, lightened, softened. And these two lines of division coincide +precisely. + +The slight touches of whimsicality, suggesting Sterne, are a part of +Timme’s own narrative, evidently adapted with approval and appreciation; +they are never carried to excess, satirized or burlesqued, but may be +regarded as purposely adopted, as a result of admiration and presumably +as a suggestion to the possible workings of sprightliness and grace on +the heaviness of narrative prose at that time. Timme, as a clear-sighted +contemporary, certainly confined the danger of Sterne’s literary +influence entirely to the sentimental side, and saw no occasion to +censure an importation of Sterne’s whimsies. Pank’s ode on the death of +Riepel, written partly in dashes and partly in exclamation points, is +not a disproof of this assertion. Timme is not satirizing Sterne’s +whimsical use of typographical signs, but rather the Germans who +misunderstood Sterne and tried to read a very peculiar and precious +meaning into these vagaries. The sentimental is, however, always +burlesqued and ridiculed; hence the satire is directed largely against +the Sentimental Journey, and Shandy is followed mainly in those +sections, which, we are compelled to believe, he wrote for his own +pleasure, and in which he was led on by his own interest. + +The satire on sentimentalism is purposeful, the imitation and adaptation +of the whimsical and original is half-unconscious, and bespeaks +admiration and commendation. + +Timme’s book was sufficiently popular to demand a second edition, but it +never received the critical examination its merits deserved. Wieland’s +_Teutscher Merkur_ and the _Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_ +ignore it completely. The _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_ announces the +book in its issue of August 2, 1780, but the book itself is not reviewed +in its columns. The _Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen_ accords +it a colorless and unappreciative review in which Timme is reproached +for lack of order in his work (a censure more applicable to the first +volume), and further for his treatment of German authors then +popular.[72] The latter statement stamps the review as unsympathetic +with Timme’s satirical purpose. In the _Erfurtische gelehrte +Zeitung_,[73] in the very house of its own publication, the novel is +treated in a long review which hesitates between an acknowledged lack of +comprehension and indignant denunciation. The reviewer fears that the +author is a “Pasquillant oder gar ein Indifferentist” and hopes the +public will find no pleasure (Geschmack) in such bitter jesting +(Schnaken). He is incensed at Timme’s contention that the Germans were +then degenerate as compared with their Teutonic forefathers, and Timme’s +attack on the popular writers is emphatically resented. “Aber nun kömmt +das Schlimme erst,” he says, “da führt er aus Schriften unserer grössten +Schenies, aus den Lieblings-büchern der Nazion, aus Werther’s Leiden, +dem Siegwart, den Fragmenten zur Geschichte der Zärtlichkeit, Müller’s +Freuden und Leiden, Klinger’s Schriften u.s.w. zur Bestätigung seiner +Behauptung, solche Stellen mit solcher Bosheit an, dass man in der That +ganz verzweifelt wird, ob sie von einem Schenie oder von einem Affen +geschrieben sind.” + +In the number for July 6, 1782, the second and third volumes are +reviewed. Pity is expressed for the poor author, “denn ich fürchte es +wird sich ein solches Geschrey wider ihn erheben, wovon ihm die Ohren +gällen werden.” Timme wrote reviews for this periodical, and the general +tone of this notice renders it not improbable that he roguishly wrote +the review himself or inspired it, as a kind of advertisement for the +novel itself. It is certainly a challenge to the opposing party. + +The _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_[74] alone seems to grasp the full +significance of the satire. “We acknowledge gladly,” says the reviewer, +“that the author has with accuracy noted and defined the rise, +development, ever-increasing contagion and plague-like prevalence of +this moral pestilence; . . . that the author has penetrated deep into +the knowledge of this disease and its causes.” He wishes for an +engraving of the Sterne hobby-horse cavalcade described in the first +chapter, and begs for a second and third volume, “aus deutscher +Vaterlandsliebe.” Timme is called “Our German Cervantes.” + +The second and third volumes are reviewed[75] with a brief word of +continued approbation. + +A novel not dissimilar in general purpose, but less successful in +accomplishment, is Wezel���s “Wilhelmine Arend, oder die Gefahren der +Empfindsamkeit,” Dessau and Leipzig, 1782, two volumes. The book is more +earnest in its conception. Its author says in the preface that his +desire was to attack “Empfindsamkeit” on its dangerous and not on its +comic side, hence the book avoids in the main the lighthearted and +telling burlesque, the Hudibrastic satire of Timme’s novel. He works +along lines which lead through increasing trouble to a tragic +_dénouement_. + +The preface contains a rather elaborate classification of kinds of +“Empfindsamkeit,” which reminds one of Sterne’s mock-scientific +discrimination. This classification is according to temperament, +education, example, custom, reading, strength or weakness of the +imagination; there is a happy, a sad, a gentle, a vehement, a dallying, +a serious, a melancholy, sentimentality, the last being the most poetic, +the most perilous. + +The leading character, Wilhelmine, is, like most characters which are +chosen and built up to exemplify a preconceived theory, quite +unconvincing. In his foreword Wezel analyzes his heroine’s character and +details at some length the motives underlying the choice of attributes +and the building up of her personality. This insight into the author’s +scaffolding, this explanation of the mechanism of his puppet-show, does +not enhance the aesthetic, or the satirical force of the figure. She is +not conceived in flesh and blood, but is made to order. + +The story begins in letters,--a method of story-telling which was the +legacy of Richardson’s popularity--and this device is again employed in +the second volume (Part VII). Wilhelmine Arend is one of those whom +sentimentalism seized like a maddening pestiferous disease. We read of +her that she melted into tears when her canary bird lost a feather, that +she turned white and trembled when Dr. Braun hacked worms to pieces in +conducting a biological experiment. On one occasion she refused to drive +home, as this would take the horses out in the noonday sun and disturb +their noonday meal,--an exorbitant sympathy with brute creation which +owes its popularity to Yorick’s ass. It is not necessary here to relate +the whole story. Wilhelmine’s excessive sentimentality estranges her +from her husband, a weak brutish man, who has no comprehension of her +feelings. He finds a refuge in the debasing affections of a French +opera-singer, Pouilly, and gradually sinks to the very lowest level of +degradation. This all is accomplished by the interposition and active +concern of friends, by efforts at reunion managed by benevolent +intriguers and kindly advisers. + +The advice of Drs. Braun and Irwin is especially significant in its sane +characterization of Wilhelmine’s mental disorders, and the observations +upon “Empfindsamkeit” which are scattered through the book are +trenchant, and often markedly clever. Wilhelmine holds sentimental +converse with three kindred spirits in succession, Webson, Dittmar, and +Geissing. The first reads touching tales aloud to her and they two unite +their tears, a sentimental idea dating from the Maria of Moulines +episode. The part which the physical body, with its demands and desires +unacknowledged and despised, played as the unseen moving power in these +three friendships is clearly and forcefully brought out. Allusion to +Timme’s elucidation of this principle, which, though concealed, underlay +much of the sentimentalism of this epoch, has already been made. Finally +Wilhelmine is persuaded by her friends to leave her husband, and the +scene is shifted to a little Harz village, where she is married to +Webson; but the unreasonableness of her nature develops inordinately, +and she is unable ever to submit to any reasonable human relations, and +the rest of the tale is occupied with her increasing mental aberration, +her retirement to a hermit-like seclusion, and her death. + +The book, as has been seen, presents a rather pitiful satire on the +whole sentimental epoch, not treating any special manifestation, but +applicable in large measure equally to those who joined in expressing +the emotional ferment to which Sterne, “Werther” and “Siegwart” gave +impulse, and for which they secured literary recognition. Wezel fails as +a satirist, partly because his leading character is not convincing, but +largely because his satirical exaggeration, and distortion of +characteristics, which by a process of selection renders satire +efficient, fails to make the exponent of sentimentalism ludicrous, but +renders her pitiful. At the same time this satirical warping impairs the +value of the book as a serious presentation of a prevailing malady. The +book falls between two stools. + +A precursor of “Wilhelmine Arend” from Wezel’s own hand was “Die +unglückliche Schwäche,” which was published in the second volume of his +“Satirische Erzählungen.”[76] In this book we have a character with a +heart like the sieve of the Danaids, and to Frau Laclerc is attributed +“an exaggerated softness of heart which was unable to resist a single +impression, and was carried away at any time, wherever the present +impulse bore it.” The plot of the story, with the intrigues of Graf. Z., +the Pouilly of the piece, the separation of husband and wife, their +reunion, the disasters following directly in the train of weakness of +heart in opposing sentimental attacks, are undoubtedly children of the +same purpose as that which brought forth “Wilhelmine Arend.” + +Another satirical protest was, as one reads from a contemporary review, +“Die Tausend und eine Masche, oder Yoricks wahres Shicksall, ein blaues +Mährchen von Herrn Stanhope” (1777, 8vo). The book purports to be the +posthumous work of a young Englishman, who, disgusted with Yorick’s +German imitators, grew finally indignant with Yorick himself. The +_Almanach der deutschen Musen_ (1778, pp. 99-100) finds that the author +misjudges Yorick. The book is written in part if not entirely in verse. + +In 1774 a correspondent of Wieland’s _Merkur_ writes, begging this +authoritative periodical to condemn a weekly paper just started in +Prague, entitled “Wochentlich Etwas,” which is said to be written in the +style of Tristram Shandy and the Sentimental Journey, M . . . R . . . +and “die Beyträge zur Geheimen Geschichte des menschlichen Herzens und +Verstandes,” and thereby is a shame to “our dear Bohemia.” + +In this way it is seen how from various sources and in various ways +protest was made against the real or distorted message of Laurence +Sterne. + + + [Footnote 1: I, p. 103, Lemgo.] + + [Footnote 2: 1772, July 7.] + + [Footnote 3: See Erich Schmidt’s “Heinrich Leopold Wagner, + Goethe’s Jugendgenosse,” 2d edition, Jena, 1879, p. 82.] + + [Footnote 4: Berlin, 1779, pp. 86.] + + [Footnote 5: XLIV, 1, p. 105.] + + [Footnote 6: Probably Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, the poet and + fable-writer (1727-1820). The references to the _Deutsches Museum_ + are respectively VI, p. 384; VIII, pp. 220-235; X, pp. 464 ff.] + + [Footnote 7: “Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s Vermischte Schriften,” + edited by Ludwig Christian Lichtenberg and Friedrich Kries, new + edition, Göttingen, 1844-46, 8 vols.] + + [Footnote 8: “Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland,” + Leipzig, 1862, II, p. 585.] + + [Footnote 9: See also Gervinus, “Geschichte der deutschen + Dichtung,” 5th edition, 1874, V. p. 194. “Ein Original selbst und + mehr als irgend einer befähigt die humoristischen Romane auf + deutschen Boden zu verpflanzen.” Gervinus says also (V, p. 221) + that the underlying thought of Musäus in his “Physiognomische + Reisen” would, if handled by Lichtenberg, have made the most + fruitful stuff for a humorous novel in Sterne’s style.] + + [Footnote 10: I, p. 184 f.] + + [Footnote 11: III, p. 112.] + + [Footnote 12: II, 11-12: “Im ersten Fall wird er nie, nach dem die + Stelle vorüber ist, seinen Sieg plötzlich aufgeben. So wie bei ihm + sich die Leidenschaft kühlt, kühlt sie sich auch bei uns und er + bringt uns ab, ohne dass wir es wissen. Hingegen im letztern Fall + nimmt er sich selten die Mühe, sich seines Sieges zu bedienen, + sondern wirft den Leser oft mehr zur Bewunderung seiner Kunst, als + seines Herzens in eine andere Art von Verfassung hinein, die ihn + selbst nichts kostet als Witz, den Leser fast um alles bringt, was + er vorher gewonnen hatte.”] + + [Footnote 13: V, 95.] + + [Footnote 14: I, p. 136.] + + [Footnote 15: I, p. 151.] + + [Footnote 16: See also I, p. 139.] + + [Footnote 17: II, p. 209; III, p. 11; VII, p. 133.] + + [Footnote 18: I, p. 136; II, pp. 13, 39, 209; 165, “Die Nachahmer + Sterne’s sind gleichsam die Pajazzi desselben.”] + + [Footnote 19: In _Göttingisches Magazin_, 1780, Schriften IV, pp. + 186-227: “Thöricht affectirte Sonderbarkeit in dieser Methode wird + das Kriterium von Originalität und das sicherste Zeichen, dass man + einen Kopf habe, dieses wenn man sich des Tages ein Paar Mal + darauf stellt. Wenn dieses auch eine Sternisch Kunst wäre, so ist + wohl so viel gewiss, es ist keine der schwersten.”] + + [Footnote 20: II, pp. 199-244.] + + [Footnote 21: V, p. 250.] + + [Footnote 22: VI, p. 195.] + + [Footnote 23: Tristram Shandy, I, pp. 172-180.] + + [Footnote 24: II, p. 12.] + + [Footnote 25: Weimar, 1899.] + + [Footnote 26: These dates are of the departure from and return to + Copenhagen; the actual time of residence in foreign lands would + fall somewhat short of this period.] + + [Footnote 27: _Deutsches Museum_, 1777, p. 449, or Schriften, I, + pp. 12-13; “Bibliothek der deutschen Klassiker,” Vol. VI, p. 652.] + + [Footnote 28: English writers who have endeavored to make an + estimate of Sterne’s character have ignored this part of Garrick’s + opinion, though his statement with reference to the degeneration + of Sterne’s moral nature is frequently quoted.] + + [Footnote 29: _Deutsches Museum_, II, pp. 601-604; Schriften, II, + pp. 288-291.] + + [Footnote 30: Gedichte von L. F. G. Goeckingk, 3 Bde., 1780, 1781, + 1782, Leipzig.] + + [Footnote 31: I, pp. 94, 116, 160.] + + [Footnote 32: Hamburg, pp. 44.] + + [Footnote 33: Hamburg, Bohn, 1785.] + + [Footnote 34: Published in improved and amplified form, + Braunschweig, 1794.] + + [Footnote 35: II, Nr. 204, August 25, 1808, Tübingen.] + + [Footnote 36: Breslau, 1779, 2d edition, 1780, by A. W. L. von + Rahmel.] + + [Footnote 37: See M. Denis, “Literarischer Nachlass,” edited by + Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, p. 196.] + + [Footnote 38: “Sämmtliche Werke,” edited by B. R. Abeken, Berlin, + 1858, III, pp. 61-64.] + + [Footnote 39: First American edition as “Practical Philosophy,” + Lansingburgh, 1805, p. 331. Sterne is cited on p. 85.] + + [Footnote 40: Altenburg, 1778, p. 90. Reviewed in _Gothaische + Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1779, p. 169, March 17, and in _Allg. + deutsche Bibl._, XXXVII, 2, p. 476.] + + [Footnote 41: Hempel, VIII, p. 354.] + + [Footnote 42: In a review of “Mamsell Fieckchen und ihr + Vielgetreuer, ein Erbauungsbüchlein für gefühlvolle Mädchen,” + which is intended to be a warning to tender-hearted maidens + against the sentimental mask of young officers. Another protest + against excess of sentimentalism was “Philotas, ein Versuch zur + Beruhigung und Belehrung für Leidende und Freunde der Leidenden,” + Leipzig, 1779. See _Allg. deutsche. Bibl._, XLIV. 1, pp. 128-9.] + + [Footnote 43: See Erich Schmidt’s “Richardson, Rousseau und + Goethe,” Jena, 1875, p. 297.] + + [Footnote 44: See _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_, 1780, + pp. 627, 761.] + + [Footnote 45: The full title is “Der Empfindsame Maurus Pankrazius + Ziprianus Kurt auch Selmar genannt, ein Moderoman,” published by + Keyser at Erfurt, 1781-83, with a second edition, 1785-87.] + + [Footnote 46: “Faramonds Familiengeschichte, in Briefen,” Erfurt, + Keyser, 1779-81. _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XLIV, 1, p. 120; + _Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen_, 1780, pp. 273, 332; 1781, + pp. 113, 314.] + + [Footnote 47: Pp. 8-9.] + + [Footnote 48: Goethe’s review of Schummel’s “Empfindsame Reise” + in _Frankfurter Gel. Anz._ represents the high-water mark of + understanding criticism relative to individual work, but + represents necessarily no grasp of the whole movement.] + + [Footnote 49: Frankfurt, 1778, _Allg. deutsche Bibl._, XL, 1, 119. + This is by Baker incorrectly ascribed J. F. Abel, the author of + “Beiträge zur Geschichte der Liebe,” 1778.] + + [Footnote 50: P. 15.] + + [Footnote 51: P. 17.] + + [Footnote 52: P. 18.] + + [Footnote 53: I, pp. 313 ff.] + + [Footnote 54: This distinction between Empfindsamkeit and + Empfindelei is further given II, p. 180.] + + [Footnote 55: Pp. 33-39.] + + [Footnote 56: I, pp. 88 ff.] + + [Footnote 57: See discussion concerning Tristram’s tutor, Tristram + Shandy, II, p. 217.] + + [Footnote 58: III, pp. 318 ff.] + + [Footnote 59: Vol. IV, p. 12. “Zoologica humana,” and treating of + Affen, Gekken, Narren, Schelmen, Schurken, Heuchlern, Schlangen, + Schafen, Schweinen, Ochsen und Eseln.] + + [Footnote 60: I, p. 72.] + + [Footnote 61: I, pp. 225 ff.] + + [Footnote 62: I, pp. 245 ff.] + + [Footnote 63: A substitution merely of another animal for the + passage in “Empfindsame Reise,” Bode’s translation, edition of + 1769 (2d ed.), I, p. 109.] + + [Footnote 64: pp. 241 ff.] + + [Footnote 65: Vol. II, pp. 333 ff.] + + [Footnote 66: See the record of Pankraz’s sentimental interview + with the pastor’s wife.] + + [Footnote 67: For example, see Pankraz’s prayer to Riepel, the + dead cat, when he learns that another has done more than he in + raising a lordlier monument to the feline’s virtues: “Wenn du itz + in der Gesellschaft reiner, verklärter Kazengeister, Himnen + miaust, O so sieh einen Augenblick auf diese Welt herab! Sieh + meinen Schmerz, meine Reue!” His sorrow for Riepel is likened to + the Nampont pilgrim’s grief for his dead ass.] + + [Footnote 68: IV, pp. 222-235.] + + [Footnote 69: IV, pp. 253 ff.] + + [Footnote 70: IV, pp. 113 ff.: “Wenn ich so denke, wie es Elisen + berührt, so wird mir schwindlich . . . . Ich möchte es umschlingen + wie es Elisen’s Bein umschlungen hat, mögt mich ganz verweben mit + ihm,” etc.] + + [Footnote 71: IV, pp. 214 ff.] + + [Footnote 72: 1781, p. 573: “Dass er einzelne Stellen aus unsern + angesehensten Schriftstellern heraus rupfet und in eine + lächerliche Verbindung bringt.”] + + [Footnote 73: 1781, pp. 265-7.] + + [Footnote 74: LI, I, p. 234.] + + [Footnote 75: LII, 1, p. 149.] + + [Footnote 76: Reviewed in _Almanach der deutscher Musen_, 1779, + p. 41. The work was published in Leipzig, I, 1777; II, 1778.] + + + + +A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LAURENCE STERNE + + +The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath considered: A charity +sermon preach’d on Good Friday, April 17, 1747. York, 1747. + +The Abuses of Conscience set forth in a sermon preached in the Cathedral +Church of St. Peter’s, York, July 29, 1750. York, 1750. + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, vols. I, II, York, 1759. 2d. +ed. London, 1760. Vols. III, IV, London, 1761. Vols. V, VI, London, +1762. Vols. VII, VIII, London, 1765. Vol. IX, London, 1767. + +Sermons of Mr. Yorick. Vols. I, II, London, 1760. Vols. III, IV, London, +1766. Vols. V, VI, VII, London, 1769. + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. London, 1768. + +A Political Romance addressed to ----, esq., of York, 1769. The first +edition of the Watchcoat story. + +Letters from Yorick to Eliza. London, 1775. + +Twelve Letters to his Friends on Various Occasions, to which is added +his history of a Watchcoat, with explanatory notes. London, 1775. + +Letters of the Late Reverend Laurence Sterne to his most intimate +Friends with a Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais to which are prefixed +Memoirs of his life and family written by himself, published by his +daughter, Lydia Sterne de Medalle. London, 1775. + +Seven Letters written by Sterne and his Friends, edited by W. Durrant +Cooper. 1844. + +Unpublished Letters of Laurence Sterne. In Philobiblon Society +Miscellanies. 1855, Vol. II. The Kitty Correspondence. + +Works of Laurence Sterne. 10 vols. London, Dodsley, etc., 1793. + +Works. Edited by G. E. B. Saintsbury, 6 vols. London, 1894. + + These two editions have been chiefly used in the preparation of this + work. Because of its general accessibility references to Tristram + Shandy and the Sentimental Journey are made to the latter. + +Illustrations of Sterne, by Dr. John Ferriar. Manchester, 1798. 2d +edition: London, 1812. + +Life of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald. 1864. Revised edition, +London, 1896. 2 vols. + +Sterne, in English Men of Letters Series, by H. D. Traill. 1883. + +Sir Walter Scott. Lives of the Novelists, Vol. I, p. 156-186. + +Paul Stapfer. Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages étude +précédée d’un fragment inédit de Sterne. Paris, 1882. + +William M. Thackeray. Sterne and Goldsmith, in English Humorists, 1858, +pp. 286-341. + +J. B. Montégut, Essais sur la Littérature anglaise. 1883, pp. 279-364. + +Walter Bagehot, Sterne and Thackeray, in Literary Studies. 1902, Vol. +II, pp. 282-325. + +E. Scherer. Laurence Sterne or the Humorist, in Essays on English +Literature. 1891, pp. 150-173. + +Sir Leslie Stephen. Hours in a Library. 1852. Vol. III, pp. 139-174. + +Herbert Paul. Men and Letters. 1901. Pp. 67-89. + +Whitwell Elwin. Some XVIII Century Men of Letters. 1902. Vol. II, +pp. 1-81. + +Sidney Lee. Article on Sterne in the National Dictionary of Biography. + + + + +A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF STERNE IN GERMANY + + + It cannot be assumed that the following list of reprints and + translations is complete. The conditions of the book trade then + existing were such that unauthorized editions of popular books + were very common. + + +I. GERMAN EDITIONS OF STERNE’S WORKS INCLUDING SPURIOUS OR DOUBTFUL +WORKS PUBLISHED UNDER HIS NAME. + +_a. Tristram Shandy_ + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 6 vols. Altenburg, +1772. (Richter.) + +The same. Altenburg, 1776. + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A new edition. +Basil, 1792. (Legrand). + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols gr. 8vo. Gotha, 1792. +(Ettinger). Identical with the preceding. + +Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols. (with 4 engravings). Wien, +1798. (Sammer.) + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols. Gotha, 1805-6. +(Stendel and Keil.) + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Schneeburg, 1833. Pocket +edition of the most eminent English authors of the preceding century, +of which it is vols. XI-XIII. + +The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols., gr. 8vo. Basel. +(Thurneisen), without date. + + +_b. The Sentimental Journey_ + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. 8vo. Altenburg, +1771. (Richter.) + +The same with cuts, 2 vols, 8vo. Altenburg, 1772. (Richter.) + +The same. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) + +The same. Göttingen, 1779. (Diederich). Pp. 199. No introduction or +notes. + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy in two books. Göttingen, +1787. (Dietrich.) + +A Sentimental Journey with a continuation by Eugenius and an account of +the life and writings of L. Sterne, gr. 8vo. Basel, 1792. (Legrand, +Ettinger in Gotha.) + +Sentimental Journey through France and Italy mit Anmerkungen und +Wortregister, 8vo. Halle, 1794. (Renger). + +A sentimental Journey through France and Italy. 4 parts complete in 2 +vols. 2d edition to which are now added several other pieces by the same +author. (With four engravings) 12mo. Wien, 1798. (Sammer.) + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy and the continuation by +Eugenius, 2 parts, 8vo. Halle, 1806. (Hendel). + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick. In Two +Books. Göttingen, 1806. (Dietrich). Pp. 271. + +A Sentimental Journey. New edition, 12mo. Altenburg, 1815. (Brockhaus in +Leipzig.) + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, gr. 12mo. Jena, 1826. +(Schmid.) + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 16mo. Nürnberg, 1828. +(Campe.) + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Schneeberg, 1830. Pocket +edition of the most eminent English authors of the preceding century, of +which it is Vol. IV. + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Basil (Thurneisen), +without date. + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. London. Cooke. Campe in +Hamburg, without date. + +Tauchnitz has published editions of both Shandy and the Journey. + + +_c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous_ + +Yorick’s letters to Eliza, Eliza’s letters to Yorick. Sterne’s letters +to his Friends. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) + +Letters to his most intimate Friends, with a fragment in the manner of +Rabelais published by his Daughter, Mme. Medalle. 3 vols., 8vo. +Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) + +Letters written between Yorick and Eliza with letters to his Friends. +Nürnberg, 8vo, 1788. (Schneider.) + +Letters written between Yorick and Eliza. 12mo. Vienna, 1795. + +Letters between Yorick and Eliza, 12mo. Wien, 1797. (Sammer.) + +Letters of the late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne, to his most intimate +friends, on various occasions, as published by his daughter, Mrs. +Medalle, and others, including the letters between Yorick and Eliza. +To which are added: An appendix of XXXII Letters never printed before; +A fragment in the manner of Rabelais, and the History of a Watchcoat. +With explanatory notes. 2 vols. Vienna, 1797. (Sammer.) + +Letters written between Yorick and Eliza, mit einem erklärenden +Wortregister zum Selbstunterricht von J. H. Emmert. Giessen, 1802. + +Sermons by Laurence Sterne. 7 vols. Altenburg, 1777. (Richter) 8vo. + +The Koran, or Essays, Sentiments and Callimachies, etc. 1 vol. Wien, +1795. (Sammer.) + +The Koran, etc. Wien, 1798. (Sammer). 12mo, pp. 275. + +Gleanings from the works of Laurence Sterne. Campe’s edition. Nürnberg +and New York. Without date. + + +II. GERMAN TRANSLATIONS OF STERNE. + +_a. Tristram Shandy_ + +Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Berlin und +Stralsund, 1763. Parts I-VI. Translation by Johann Friedrich Zückert. + +The same. Parts VII-VIII. 1763. + +The same. Part IX (spurious). 1767. + +Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Nach einer neuen +Uebersetzung. Berlin und Stralsund, 1769-1772. (Lange.) A revised +edition of the previous translation. + +Das Leben und die Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy aus dem Englischen +übersetzt, nach einer neuen Uebersetzung auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofrath +Wielands verfasst. Neun Theile. Berlin, 1774. + +Another edition of the same translation. + +Tristram Schandi’s Leben und Meynungen. Hamburg, 1774. Bey Bode. +Translation by J. J. C. Bode. Nine parts. I, pp. 185; II, pp. 191; III, +pp. 210; IV, pp. 226; V, pp. 166; VI, pp. 164; VII, pp. 148; VIII, pp. +144; IX, pp. 128. + +The same. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. Hamburg, 1776. + +The same, 1777. + +The same, 1778. + +The same. Nachdruck, Hanau und Höchst. 1776-7. + +The same. Nachdruck. Berlin, 1778. + +Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, von neuem verdeutscht. 3 vols. +Leipzig, 1801. (Linke.) A revision of Bode’s translation by J. L. +Benzler. + +The same. Hannover. 1810. (Hahn.) + +Leben und Meinungen des Tristram Shandy von Sterne--neu übertragen von +W. H., Magdeburg, 1831. Sammlung der ausgezeichnetsten humoristischen +und komischen Romane des Auslands in neuen zeitgemässen Bearbeitungen. +Bd. X, I, pp. 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 151; IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 256; +V, pp. 257-264, Ueber Laurence Sterne und dessen Werke. Another revision +of Bode’s work. + +Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, von Lorenz Sterne, aus dem +Englischen von Dr. G. R. Bärmann. Berlin, 1856. + +Tristram Shandy’s Leben und Meinungen, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von +F. A. Gelbcke. Nos. 96-99 of “Bibliothek ausländischer Klassiker.” +Leipzig, 1879. (Bibliographisches Institut.) + +Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Deutsch von A. Seubert. +Leipzig, 1881. (Reclam.) + + +_b. The Sentimental Journey_ + +Yorick’s emfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. Hamburg und +Bremen, 1768. Translated by J. J. C. Bode. + +The same, with parts III, IV (Stevenson’s continuation), 1769. + +The same. Hamburg und Bremen, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1776, 1777, 1804. + +The same. Mannheim. 1780. + +The same. Leipzig, 1797, 1802. (Rabenhorst.) + +Versuch über die menschliche Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des +Tristram Shandy Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien. Braunschweig, 1769. +(Fürstliche Waisenhausbuchhandlung), pp. 248. Translation by Hofprediger +Mittelstedt. + +Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des Tristram Shandy, Reisen durch Frankreich +und Italien, als ein Versuch über die menschliche Natur. Braunschweig, +1769. Is a second edition of the former. + +The same, 1774. + +Yoricks empfindsame Reise von neuem verdeutscht. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1801. +A revision of Bode’s work by Johann Lorenz Benzler. + +Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien übersetzt von Ch. +C. Meissner. Zwickau, 1825. (Schumann.) + +Eine Empfindsame Reise . . . übersetzt, mit Lebensbeschreibung des +Autors und erläuternden Bemerkungen von H. A. Clemen. Essen, 1827. + +A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Yorick’s Empfindsame +Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, mit erläuternden Anmerkungen von +W. Gramberg. 8vo. Oldenburg, 1833. (Schulze.) Since both titles are +given, it is not evident whether this is a reprint, a translation, +or both. + +Laurence Sterne--Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. +Halle. (Hendel.) A revision of Bode’s translation, with a brief +introductory note by E. Suchier. + +Yorick’s empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, übersetzt von +A. Lewald. Pforzheim, 1842. + +Yorick’s empfindsame Reise, übersetzt von K. Eitner. Bibliothek +ausländischer Klassiker. Bd. 75. Hildburghausen. + +Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien Deutsch von Friedrich +Hörlek. Leipzig, 1859. (Reclam.) + + +_c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous_ + +Briefe von (Yorick) Sterne an seine Freunde Nebst seiner Geschichte +eines Ueberrocks, Aus dem Englischen. Hamburg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. VIII, +144. + +Yorick’s Briefe an Elisa. Hamburg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. XX, 75. + +Briefe von Elisa an Yorick. Aus dem Engl. Hamburg, 1775. Pp. XVI, 64. + +Translation of the above three probably by Bode. + +Briefwechsel mit Elisen und seinen übrigen Freunden. Leipzig, 1775. +(Weidmann.) + +Elisens ächte Briefe an Yorik. Leipzig, 1775. + +Briefe an seine vertrauten Freunde nebst Fragment im Geschmack des +Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst verfassten Nachricht von seinem Leben +und seiner Familie, herausgegeben von seiner Tochter Madame Medalle. +Leipzig, 1776. (Weidmann.) Pp. XXVIII, 391. Translation probably by Chr. +Felix Weisse. + +The same. 1785. + +Yorick’s Briefe an Elisa. Leipzig, 1785. (Göschen.) A new edition of +Bode’s rendering. + +Briefe von Lorenz Sterne, dem Verfasser von Yorik’s empfindsame Reisen. +Englisch und Deutsch zum erstenmal abgedruckt. London, 1787. Is probably +the same as “Hinterlassene Briefe. Englisch und Deutsch.” Leipzig, 1787. +(Nauck.) + +Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick. Zürich. I, 1766; II, 1767. +(Fuesslin und Comp.) + +The same, III, under the special title “Reden an Esel.” + +Predigten. Zürich, 1773. (Orell.) + +Neue Sammlung von Predigten: Leipsig, 1770. (Hahn.) Translation by Prof. +A. E. Klausing. + +Reden an Esel. Mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen. Hamburg, 1795. (Herold, +jun.) + +Reden an Esel, von Lorenz Sterne. Thorn, 1795. + +Lorenz Sterne des Menschenkenners Benutzung einiger Schriftsteller. +Basel, 1781. (Flick.) An abridged edition of his sermons. + +Buch der Predigten oder 100 Predigten und Reden aus den verschiedenen +Zeiten by R. Nesselmann. Elbing, 1868. Contains Sterne’s sermon on St. +Luke X, 23-37. + +Yorick’s Nachgelassene Werke. Leipzig, 1771. Translation of the Koran, +by J. G. Gellius. + +Der Koran, oder Leben und Meinungen des Tria Juncta in Uno, M. N. A. +Ein hinterlassenes Werk von dem Verfasser des Tristram Shandy. Hamburg, +1778. Translation probably by Bode. + +Yorick’s Betrachtungen über verschiedene wichtige und angenehme +Gegenstände. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1769. + +Betrachtungen über verschiedene Gegenstände. Braunschweig, 1789. +(Schulbuchhandlung.) + +Nachlese aus Laurence Sterne’s Werken in’s Deutsche übersetzt von Julius +Voss. Thorn, 1854. + +French translations of Sterne’s works were issued at Bern and +Strassburg, and one of his “Sentimental Journey” at Kopenhagen and an +Italian translation of the same in Dresden (1822), and in Prague (1821). + + +III. MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORITIES. + + The following list contains (a) books or articles treating + particularly, or at some length, the relation of German authors + to Laurence Sterne; (b) books of general usefulness in determining + literary conditions in the eighteenth century, to which frequent + reference is made; (c) periodicals which are the sources of reviews + and criticisms cited in the text. Other works to which only + incidental reference is made are noted in the text itself. + +Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Berlin und Stettin, 1765-92. Edited by +Nicolai. + +Allgemeine Litteratur Zeitung. Jena, Leipzig, Wien, 1781. + +Almanach der deutschen Musen. Leipzig, 1770-1781. Edited by Chr. Heinr. +Schmid. + +Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter. 1750. Editor 1772-1786 was Albrecht +Wittenberg. + +Altonischer Gelehrter Mercurius. Altona, 1763-1772. + +Appell, Joh. Wilhelm. Werther und Seine Zeit. 4 Aufl. Oldenburg, 1896. + +Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen Litteratur. Lemgo, +1772-1778. + +Baker, Thomas Stockham. The Influence of Laurence Sterne upon German +Literature. In Americana Germanica. Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 41-56. + +Bauer, F. Sternescher Humor in Immermanns Münchhausen. Programm. Wien, +1896. + +Bauer, F. Ueber den Einfluss Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. Wieland. +Programm. Karlsbad. 1898. + +Behmer, Karl August. Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland. Forschungen zur +neueren Literaturgeschichte, No. 9 München, 1899. Ein Beitrag zur +Erforschung fremder Einflüsse auf Wielands Dichtungen. + +Berlinische Monatsschrift, 1783-1796, edited by Gedike and Biester. + +Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und der freyen Künste. Leipzig, +1757-65. 12 vol. I-IV edited by Nicolai and Mendelssohn, V-XII edited by +Chr. Felix Weisse. + +J. J. C. Bode’s Literarisches Leben. Nebst dessen Bildniss von Lips. +Berlin, 1796. First published in Vol. VI of Bode’s translation of +Montaigne, “Michael Montaigne’s Gedanken und Meinungen.” Berlin, +1793-1795. The life of Bode is Vol. VI, pp. III-CXLIV. + +Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, Künste und +Tugend. Bremen und Leipzig, 1757-66. + +Büchner, Alex. Sternes Coran und Makariens Archiv. Goethe ein Plagiator? +Morgenblatt, No. 39, p. 922 f. + +Czerny, Johann, Sterne, Hippel und Jean Paul. Berlin, 1904. + +Deutsche Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften. Halle, 1767-1771. Edited +by Klotz. + +Deutsches Museum. Leipzig, 1776-1788. Edited by Dohm and Boie and +continued to 1791 as Neues deutsches Museum. + +Ebeling, Friedrich W. Geschichte der komischen Literatur in Deutschland +während der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1869. 3 vols. + +Elze, Frederich Karl. Die englische Sprache und Litteratur in +Deutschland. Dresden, 1864. + +Erfurtische Gelehrte Zeitung. Erfurt, 1781-1796. + +Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen. Frankfurt. Published under several +titles, 1736-1790. Editors, Merck, Bahrdt and others. + +Gervinus, G. G. Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. Edited by Karl +Bartsch. 5 vols. Leipzig, 1871-74. + +Goedeke, Karl. Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. Dresden, +1884-1900. + +Gothaische gelehrte Zeitungen. Gotha, 1774-1804. Published and edited by +Ettinger. + +Göttingische Anzeigen von Gelehrten Sachen 1753. Michaelis was editor +1753-1770, then Christian Gottlob Heyne. + +Hamburger Adress-Comptoir Nachrichten, 1767. Edited by Joh. Wm. Dumpf. + +Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent. Full title, Staats- und +Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyischen Correspondenten. +Editor, 1763-3, Bode; 1767-1770, Albrecht Wittenberg. + +Hédouin, Alfred. Goethe plagiaire de Sterne, in Le Monde Maçonnique. +July, 1863. + +Heine, Carl. Der Roman in Deutschland von 1774 bis 1778. Halle, 1892. + +Hettner, Hermann. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im achtzehnten +Jahrhundert. 4te Auflage. Braunschweig, 1893-94. This is the third +division of his Literaturgeschichte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. + +Hillebrand, Joseph. Die deutsche Nationalliteratur seit dem Anfange des +achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, besonders seit Lessing bis auf die Gegenwart. +2te Ausgabe. Hamburg und Gotha, 1850. + +Hirsching, Friedr. Carl Gottlob. Historisch-litterarisches Handbuch +berühmter und denkwürdiger Personen, welche in dem 18. Jahrhundert +gelebt haben. Vol. XIII. Leipzig, 1809. + +Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen. Jena, 1765-1781. + +Jördens, Karl Heinrich. Lexikon deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten. +Leipzig, 1806-1811. + +Koberstein, Karl August. Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur. +Leipzig, 1872-73. + +Koch, Max. Ueber die Beziehungen der englischen Literatur zur deutschen +im 18. Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1883. + +Kurz, Heinrich. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Leipzig, 1876-81. + +Leipziger Musen-Almanach. Leipzig, 1776-87. Editor, 1776-78, Friedrich +Traugott Hase. + +Longo, Joseph. Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi. Programm. Krems, +1898. + +Magazin der deutschen Critik. Halle, 1772-1776. Edited by Gottlob +Benedict Schirach. + +Mager, A. Wielands Nachlass des Diogenes von Sinope und das englische +Vorbild. Abhandlung. Marburg, 1890. + +Meusel, Johann Georg. Das gelehrte Deutschland, oder Lexicon der jetzt +lebenden deutschen Schriftsteller. Lemgo, 1796-1806. + +Meusel, Johann Georg. Lexicon der von 1750 bis 1800 verstorbenen +teutschen Schriftsteller. Leipzig, 1802-16. + +Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Kiel, 1793-1800. Edited by Bohn. +Berlin und Stettin, 1801-1805. Edited by Nicolai. + +Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und der freyen Künste. +Leipzig, 1765-1806. Edited first by Chr. Felix Weisse, then by the +publisher Dyk. + +Neue Critische Nachrichten. Greifswald, 1750-1807. Editor from 1779 was +Georg Peter Möller, professor of history at Greifswald. + +Neues Bremisches Magazin. Bremen, 1766-1771. + +Neue Hallische Gelehrte Zeitung. Founded by Klotz in 1766, and edited by +him 1766-71, then by Philipp Ernst Bertram, 1772-77. + +Neue litterarische Unterhaltungen. Breslau, bey Korn der ä 1774-75. + +Neue Mannigfaltigkeiten. Eine gemeinnützige Wochenschrift, follows +Mannigfaltigheiten which ran from Sept., 1769 to May, 1773, and in June +1773, the new series began. Berlin. Vol. II, pp. 97-106. Life of Sterne. + +Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen. 1715-1785. At the latter date the +title was changed to Neue Litteratur Zeitung. Leipzig. + +Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unserer Zeit. Leipzig, +1870. Vol. IV, 1875. Vol. IV, pp. 272 ff, Studien über den Englischen +Roman. + +Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur von Leibnitz bis +auf unsere Zeit. Berlin, 1886-96. + +Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland von +Leibnitz bis auf Lessing’s Tod, 1681-1781. Leipzig, I, 1862; II, 1864. + +Schröder, Lexicon Hamburgischer Schriftsteller. Hamburg, 1851-83, 8 +vols. + +Springer, Robert. Essays zur Kritik und zur Goethe-Literatur. “War +Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz Sternes?” Minden i. W., 1885. + +Teutscher Mercur. Weimar, 1773-89. And Neuer deutscher Merkur. Weimar, +1790-1810. Edited by Wieland, Reinhold and Böttiger. + +Unterhaltungen. Hamburg bey Bock, 1767-70. Edited by J. J. Eschenburg, +I-IV; Albrecht Wittenberg, V; Christoph Dan. Ebeling, VI-X. + +(Der) Wandsbecker Bothe. Edited by Matthias Claudius. Wandsbeck, +1771-75. + + + + +INDEX OF PROPER NAMES + + + Abbt, 43. + Abel, J. F., 170. + Addison, 157. + Alberti, 26, 27, 46. + + Behrens, Johanna Friederike, 87. + Benzler, J. L., 61, 62. + Blankenburg, 5, 8, 139. + Bock, Joh. Chr., 93, 127, 129-133, 136. + Bode, J. J. C., 15, 16, 24, 34, 37, 38, 40-62, 67, 76, 90, 94, + 106, 115. + Bodmer, 75. + Boie, 59, 131. + Bondeli, Julie v., 30, 31. + Bonstetten, 89. + Böttiger, C. A., 38, 42-44, 48, 49, 52, 58, 77, 81. + Brandon, J., 82. + Brockes, 37. + Burney, Frances, 37. + Burton, 77. + Butler, 6, 29. + + Campe, J. H., 43, 164-166. + Carr, John, 14. + Cervantes, 6, 23, 26, 60, 168, 178. + Chappelle, 35, 112. + Claudius, 59, 133, 157-158. + Combe, Wm., 69. + + Defoe, 3. + Denis, 10, 75, 166. + Draper, Eliza, 64-70, 89, 114, 176. + + Eberhard, 5. + Ebert, 10, 26, 44-46, 59, 62. + Eckermann, 98, 101, 104. + Einsiedel, 59. + Eschenburg, 2. + + Ferber, J. C. C., 84. + Ferriar, 77, 78. + Fielding, 4, 6, 10, 23, 58, 60, 96, 145, 154. + Forster, 12. + Frenais, 60. + + Garrick, 66, 161. + Garve, 22, 135. + Gay, 92. + Gebler, 90. + Gellert, 32, 37, 120. + Gellius, 76, 92. + Gerstenberg, 59. + Gleim, 2, 3, 59, 85-87, 112, 152. + Göchhausen, 88, 140-144, 181. + Göchhausen, Fräulein v., 59. + Goeckingk, 162-3. + Goethe, 40, 41, 59, 75, 77, 85, 91, 97-109, 126, 153, 156, 167, + 168, 170, 180. + Goeze, 27, 48. + Goldsmith, 10, 98. + Göschen, Georg. Joachim, 134-135. + Griffith, Richard, 74-75. + Grotthus, Sara v., 40-41. + + Hamann, 28, 29, 59, 69, 71, 97, 153. + Hartknoch, 28, 32, 97. + Hebbel, 88, 153. + Hedemann, 136-138. + Heine, H., 103. + Heinse, 152. + Herder, 5, 7, 8, 28, 29, 32, 59, 97, 99, 156. + Herder, Caroline Flachsland, 89, 99, 152. + Hermes, 2, 8, 109. + Hippel, 6, 59, 101, 155. + Hofmann, J. C., 88. + Hopffgarten, 93. + Hopfner, 69. + Hume, 63. + + Ireland, 80. + + Jacobi, 59, 85-90, 112-114, 131, 136, 139, 142, 143. + Jung-Stilling, 99. + + Kästner, 30. + Kaufmann, 88. + Kirchberger, 30. + Kirsten, 93. + Klausing, A. E., 72. + Klopstock, 37, 51, 59. + Klotz, 21, 114. + Knebel, 109, 152. + Knigge, 91, 93, 110, 154, 166. + Kölbele, 52. + Koran, 74-76, 92, 95, 103-108, 153. + Kotzebue, 133-34. + Krummacher, 153. + + Lenz, 152. + Lessing, 24-28, 40-46, 59, 62, 77, 97, 109, 156. + Leuchsenring, 88. + Lichtenberg, 4, 78, 84, 158-60. + Liscow, 3, 24. + + Matthison, 60, 89, 152. + de Medalle, Lydia Sterne, 64, 68, 69. + Medicus, Wilhelm Ludwig, 69. + Mendelssohn, 24, 43, 109, 110. + Merck, 89, 99, 139. + Meyer, Aug. Wilh., 83. + Miller, J. M., 168, 170, 173, 180. + Mittelstedt, 46-47, 55-57, 115. + Montaigne, 60. + Moritz, K. P., 168. + Möser, 7, 166. + Müchler, K. F., 79. + Murray, Rev. James, 71. + Musäus, 10, 91, 138, 152, 153, 158. + + Nicolai, 27, 40, 43, 77, 78, 110; + Sebaldus Nothanker, 6, 88, 110, 150. + Nicolay, Ludwig Heinrich v., 158. + Nonne, 93. + + Opitz, Christian, 127. + Ossian, 10. + + Paterson, Sam’l, 79. + Percy, Bishop, 2, 10. + + Raabe, Wilhelm, 153. + Rabelais, 60. + Rabenau, A. G. F., 138. + Rahmel, A. W. L., 166. + Ramler, 90. + Richardson, 4, 10, 31, 43, 96, 179. + Richter, Jean Paul, 75, 91, 155. + Riedel, 29-30, 32, 54, 109, 125. + la Roche, Sophie, 139. + Rousseau, 4, 71. + + Sattler, J. P., 8. + Schiller, 135, 153. + Schink, J. F., 80-82. + Schirach, 109. + Schmidt, Klamer, 60. + Schubart, 107. + Schummel, 59, 93, 114-129, 136, 140. + Schwager, 138. + Seidelinn, 153. + Shadwell, 25. + Smollett, 63. + Sonnenfels, 125. + Stephanie, d. j., 153. + Stevenson, J. H., 44-53, 57, 64, 81, 105. + Stolberg, 61. + Sturz, 160-162. + Swift, 69, 146, 157, 160. + + v. Thümmel, 93, 135, 155. + Timme, 168-179. + + Usteri, 30. + + Wagner, H. L., 41, 157. + Wegener, 150-151. + Weisse, Chr. Felix, 68. + Wezel, 110, 138, 144-150, 179-181. + Wieland, 10, 14, 31, 32, 42, 59, 61, 73, 90, 93-99, 103, 146, + 156, 181. + Wilkes, 64. + Wittenberg, 53, 87. + v. Wolzogen, 153. + + Young, 7, 10, 149-150. + + Zelter, 98, 102. + Ziegler, Louise v. (Lila), 89. + Zimmermann, 31, 59. + Zückert, 12-18, 22, 31, 32, 37, 58-60, 99. + + + * * * * * + * * * * + +Errors and Inconsistencies + +German text is unchanged unless there was an unambiguous error, or the +text could be checked against other sources. Most quoted material is +contemporary with Sterne; spellings such as “bey” and “Theil” are +standard. + +Missing letters or punctuation marks are genuinely absent, not merely +invisible. Ellipsis (. . .) is shown as printed, as is any adjoining +punctuation. + +The variation between “title page” and “title-page” is unchanged. +Punctuation of “ff” is unchanged; at mid-sentence there is usually no +following period. Hyphenization of phrases such as “a twelve-year old” +is consistent. + + +Chapter I + + the unstored mind [_unchanged_] + +Chapter II + + des vaterländischen Geschmack entwickeln + [_unchanged: error for “den”?_] + Vol. I, St. 2, pp. 245-251, 1772 [245-251.] + Bode, the successful and honored translator [sucessful] + sends it as such to “my uncle, Tobias Shandy.” + [_open quote missing_] + Ich bin an seine Sentiments zum Theil schon so gewöhnt [go] + Footnote 48: . . . . in Auszug aus den Werken [Auzug] + Julie von Bondeli[52] [Von] + frequent references to other English celebrities [refrences] + “How many have understood it?” [understod] + +Chapter III + + He says of the first parts of the Sentimental Journey, [Journay] + the _Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten_;[19] + [Nachrichten_;” with superfluous close quote] + Footnote 19: ... prominent Hamburg periodical.] [perodical] + eine Reise heissen, bey der [be] + It may well be that, as Böttiger hints,[24] [Bottiger] + Footnote 24: See foot note to page lxiii.] [_two words_] + Bode’s translation in the Allgemeine [Allegemeine] + has been generally accepted [generaly] + +Chapter IV + + manages to turn it at once with the greatest delicacy [delicay] + the Journey which is here mentioned.”[31] [mentionad] + Footnote 34: ... (LII, pp. 370-371) [_missing )_] + he is probably building on the incorrect statement [incorect] + Footnote 87: ... Berlin, 1810 [810]. + “Die Schöne Obstverkäuferin” [“Die “Schöne] + +Chapter V + + Footnote 3 ... Anmerk. 24 [Anmerk,] + Animae quales non candidiores terra tulit.” [_missing close quote_] + “like Grenough’s tooth-tincture [_missing open quote_] + founding an order of “Empfindsamkeit.” [_missing close quote_] + Footnote 24 ... “Der Teufel auf Reisen,” [Riesen] + Footnote 27 ... _Allg. deutsche Bibl._ [Allg deutsche] + Sein Seelchen auf den Himmel [gen Himmel] + In an article in the _Horen_ (1795, V. Stück,) [V Stück] + Footnote 84 ... G. B. Mendelssohn [G. B Mendelssohn] + +Chapter VI + + re-introducing a sentimental relationship. [relationiship] + nach Erfindung der Buchdrukerkunst [_unchanged_] + “Ueber die roten und schwarzen Röcke,” [_“Röke” without close quote] + the twelve irregularly printed lines [twleve] + conventional thread of introduction [inroduction] + an appropriate proof of incapacity [incaapcity] + [Footnote 23 ... Litteratur-geschichte [_hyphen in original_] + Footnote 35 ... p. 28. [_final . missing_] + [Footnote 38 ... a rather full analysis [nalysis] + multifarious and irrelevant topics [mutifarious] + Goethe replies (December 30), in approval, and exclaims [exlaims] + laughed heartily at some of the whims.”[49] [_missing close quote_] + [Footnote 52 ... Hademann as author [auther] + für diesen schreibe ich dieses Kapitel nicht [fur] + [Footnote 69 ... _July_ 1, 1774 [_italics in original_] + Darauf denke ich, soll jedermanniglich vom 22. Absatze fahren + [_“vom. 22. Absatze” with extra space after “22.” as if for + a new sentence_] + accompanied by typographical eccentricities [typograhical] + the relationships of trivial things [relationiships] + Herr v. ** and Herr v. *** [_asterisks unchanged_] + +Chapter VII + + expressed themselves quite unequivocally [themsleves] + the pleasure of latest posterity.” [_final . missing_] + “regarded his taste as insulted because I sent him “Yorick’s + Empfindsame Reise.”[3] + [_mismatched quotation marks unchanged_] + Georg Christopher Lichtenberg.[7] + [Lichtenberg.” with superfluous close quote] + Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass: Aufsätze, Gedichte, Tagebuchblätter + [_“Gedichte Tagebuchblätter” without comma_] + Doch lass’ ich, wenn mir’s Kurzweil schafft [schaft] + a poem named “Empfindsamkeiten [Enpfindsamkeiten] + A poet cries [croes] + “Faramond’s Familiengeschichte,”[46] + [_inconsistent apostrophe unchanged: compare footnote_] + sondern mich zu bedauern!’ [_inner close quote conjectural_] + Ruhe deinem Staube [dienem] + the neighboring village is in flames [nieghboring] + Footnote 67 ... [_all German spelling in this footnote unchanged_] + “Die Tausend und eine Masche, oder Yoricks wahres Shicksall, + ein blaues Mährchen von Herrn Stanhope” [_all spelling unchanged] + + +[The Bibliography is shown in the Table of Contents as “Chapter VIII”, +but was printed without a chapter header.] + +Bibliography (England) + + Life of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald [Lift] + b. The Sentimental Journey [Jonrney] + +Bibliography (Germany) + + The Koran, etc. Wien, 1798. [1798).] + Tristram Schandi’s Leben und Meynungen ... III, pp. 210 [p. 210] + durch Frankreich und Italien, übersetzt von A. Lewald. [Italien.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laurence Sterne in Germany, by +Harvey Waterman Thayer + *** \ No newline at end of file