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336 GERMAN LITERATURE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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-E> A Short Time Since We Had Occasion T...
tools , and to beat all his contemporaries down to one dead level of thought . In the vigour and freshness of his genius , and in the
condition of pupilage in which he delighted to keep a nation , he doubtless found enough amusement for his own leisure hours _,,
and he cared not for the suffering he inflicted upon others , while heentrenched himself in selfish isolation .
Herr Freytag dwells with admiration on the literary accomplishments of the heroand on his encouragement of Goethe and the
other poets of his day , . In the favour , however , which he extended to Rousseau and VoltaireFrederick undoubtedly forwarded the
destructive tendencies of the , eighteenth century . The victory of "Voltaire over Christian "Wolff was a triumph of France over
Germany . The French cynic was , in one sense , only the mouthpiece of his country and his timesand gave expression to
thoughtsand feelings which were already , afloat in the world before his appearance . In his subsequent chapterHerr Freytag proceeds
to-, describe the influence of French literature and philosophy upon th _& institutions of Germany , and the progress of that frivolity and
scepticism of opinion , which , for a time , seemed to threaten the stability of every social institution . "We are not able to follow him
in these discussions on the history of the eighteenth century . "Wehave already devoted unusual space to the consideration of a work _,
which treats of important questions connected with the social and literary history of Germany , but must now pass on to others which _,
claim our attention . There are two new publications by David Strauss , on whose life *
and opinions it is impossible to enlarge without being involved in the meshes of religious argument . The first is entitled " Minor
"Writings , " - ' ' and includes biographical fragments ; the latter is a . memoir of " Hermann Samuel Reimarus"f consisting of a repetition
of controversies with which the public is already wearied . To the uninitiatedit may be necessary to explain that David Strauss
pro-, fesses a modified form of the doctrines of Christian theology , combined with the philosophy of Hegel , and that his theories on
religious subjects are elaborate enlargements of the abstract thesesof this hilosopher .
p The fifth and sixth volumes of the Diary of Varnhagen von Ense J . have been seized and confiscated by the Prussian Government , their
injurious scandal and opprobrious criticism having proved unendurable to persons in high places . These volumes _comprise the
period of a year and a half , extending from May , 1848 , to December _^ 1849 and abound with anecdote and amusing illustration , which _,
are often , too piquant and exciting to be in keeping with good taste . L . S .
* Strauss ( David F . ) , Kleine Schriften , biografischen , Jiterar und kunstgeschiclitlichen Inhalts . _Sclautizschrift fur die vernimfbi
Verehrer f Reimaru Gottes s ( Herm . Von ann David S . ) > und F . Strauss seine . gen achlass 6 und 6 Bde
$ Varnhagen von Ense's Tagebilcher aus seinen _iN . ' _*
336 German Literature.
336 GERMAN LITERATURE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 338, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/50/
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