the

letter to a friend, in the prime of his life, and in the
vigour of his mind.* The intention, doubtless, was
to produce a readable drama, reference being had to
the existing taste of the English public, as the only
way in which the German writer could become
favourably known, or indeed known at all, to general
readers in this country. A complete revolution has
since taken place in this respect, very much, in the
first instance, through the influence of Coleridge's
writings and conversation, and, indeed, of this very
translation. If his admiration of Schiller's dramatic
powers, and of this drama in particular, appear some-
what cold and measured, as compared with the tenor
of modern criticism, it was then at least as far in
advance of the public estimate as it may now seem to
fall short of it. It is certain that he considered this
great work as unequal in execution-admirable as a
whole, and most admirable in particular scenes, yet
with a tendency to excess, characteristic of the
German writers in general, and an occasional extrava-
gance both of sentiment and expression. He believed
that he should give the work a better chance of
becoming popular in this country by some slight
curtailment. He sought to give movement and variety
to the blank verse, which he considered heavy and
monotonous. He renders some of the scenes in prose,
after the example of our own elder dramatists, and, as
appears to the editor, with excellent effect. In a very
few instances he has expanded the original thought;
but for this he offers an apology, which has hitherto

*Gillman's "Life of Coleridge," p. 146.
Table Talk, p. 323, third edition.

(with one recent exception, which will be noticed presently) been very cordially accepted. It has even been supposed that Schiller re-translated some of these additions into his own play; but a comparison between the two texts, as they now stand, has led the Editor to an opposite conclusion. The lines, really additional, that is to say, introduced into the text from which the translation was made, are very few. On the whole, it is evident that the task which he proposed to himself was somewhat different from that of a translator dealing with a classic work, of established reputation, the very defects of which, if such there were, he must be content to reproduce.* At any rate, the course actually taken was justified by the result. The translation had indeed little or no sale. It had to wait for, and partly to make, the taste by which it should be appreciated; but by the few who were capable of forming an opinion, a most favourable judgment was pronounced, which in a few years became general. In 1815 the remarkable passage from the scene in the astrological tower,

"For fable is love's world, his home, his birthplace,"

and the nineteen following lines,† were cited by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel of " Guy Mannering," with a tribute of admiration, which the translation must at least share with the German original, the passage being quoted for the beauty of the language-" the

⚫ Yet Mickle, through whose English version the "Lusiad" of Camoens became popular in this country, has taken far greater liberties with the Portuguese than Coleridge with the German original.

† Piccolomini, Act ii. Scene 3.

exquisite expression;" and, indeed, the thought is here largely amplified.

In 1823, this translation was reviewed in "Blackwood," the critic summing up his judgment in the following words:

Upon the whole there can be no doubt that this trilogy forms, in its original tongue, one of the most splendid specimens of the tragic art which the world has witnessed; and none at all, that the execution of the version from which we have quoted so largely, places Mr. Coleridge in the very first rank of poetical translators. It is, perhaps, the solitary example of a man of very great original genius submitting to all the labours, and reaping all the honours, of this species of literary exertion." *

In 1825, Mr. Carlisle, in his life of Schiller, stated that the two last parts of Wallenstein had been faithfully rendered into English by Mr. Coleridge ; and judging of the translation by "many large specimens," he pronounces it to be, with the exception of Sotheby's "Oberon," the best, indeed the only sufferable translation from the German, with which our literature had then been enriched.

In 1835, Mr. Hayward, the excellent translator of the "Faust," expressed himself still more decidedly. "In Mr. Coleridge's magnificent translation-I had almost said poem-of Wallenstein, many lines are wanting; but the fact is, Mr. Coleridge translated from a MS. copy, and the lines in question were added subsequently." He courteously invites him to "supply these deficiencies-the only deficiencies-in his work ;" and refers with especial admiration to "his rich musical

* This passage was prefixed by Mr. Bohn to his edition of this translation which is included in one of the volumes of his "Standard Library."

numbers, which often, it has been truly said, affect the heart and ear like a spell."

In 1846 Wordsworth conveyed his opinion in the following terms to a gentleman who had sought his advice respecting a translation of Tasso:

Coleridge's translation of Wallenstein is perhaps the best model translation in the English language. It is, in many places, better than the original. The metre is better."*

That such is still the opinion entertained by students of German literature, competent to adjudicate, or at least, to vote upon the question,—for besides an acquaintance with the original language, some sense of rhythm, some feeling for poetic expression, is requisite,-may be gathered from the current literature of the day. Thus the anonymous author of the "Eclipse of Faith," evidently an accomplished scholar, refers to the opening scene of the fifth act of the "Death of Wallenstein" in Coleridge's translation, as preferable "even to the magnificent original."+

As above intimated, this version, though on the whole not merely faithful, but literal to an extraordinary degree, considering the idiomatic flow of the language and the harmony of the versification, varies in some remarkable particulars from the original. The Camp of Wallenstein" is not translated, for reasons given in the Author's preface. This is doubtless to be

*Copied from a MS. journal by Capt. Robertson.

"After a pause, an expression of deepest sadness crept over the features, and he murmured, with a slight alteration, two lines from Coleridge's translation of that glorious scene in which Wallenstein looks forth into the windy night in search of his 'star,' and thinks of that brighter light of his life which had been just extinguished. Harrington used to say that he preferred the translation of that scene even to the magnificent original itself."-The Eclipse of Faith, p. 448.

regretted. The two latter plays are differently divided; the first two acts of the "Death of Wallenstein" being subjoined to the "Piccolomini," without any intimation of the change on the part of the translator, who shows himself elsewhere scrupulous in noticing the alterations for which he is himself accountable. About 250 lines are omitted, and there are some additions and substitutions. The precise extent to which these variations are imputable to the translator cannot now be determined. It is admitted that in some cases they are intentional; but it is no less certain that the translation was not made from the printed text, as it now stands. This fact (which has recently been questioned) does not rest on the current tradition merely, nor even upon internal evidence, though it would be difficult to account for some of the omissions, or for many of the substitutions, on any other supposition. In the sixth scene of the fourth act of the "Piccolomini" (the first of the "Death of Wallenstein,” in the present German), are several passages quoted with infinite scorn by a reviewer, some two years ago, in the "Westminster Review," as "introduced by Coleridge." Had this indignant censor looked into the first edition, he would have seen a fragment of the original German quoted in a footnote! "Not harmonise with Schiller's genius?" "Not of German make ?" It is impossible for critics to be too cautious when there is any likelihood that their decisions may be tested by matter of fact. But in truth, if internal evidence may in anything be trusted, it might have been pronounced with an approach to moral certainty, that these lines could

are been