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Untitled Article
Def Bilrger-General , i . e . The Citizen-Gerieral , & comedy , in one act ; a sort of sequel to Florian ' s popular comedy , Les dent Billets , which Anton Wall h&d translated * and continued in German . This is a second continuation . It was written and performed at an early period of the revolution , when Jacobinistn had made such slight advances in Germany * and was so little feared , that it could
be laughed at . The only attraction which such a subject could have for Goethe lies in a highly ridiculous farcical character , Schnaps , ( dratn 9 ) an impudent chattering barber , who pretends to have been appointed Citizen-General by the Jacobin society at Paris , whenever , in his village , the revolution shall break out .
He has obtained possession of a cap of liberty , tri-coloured cockade , soldier ' s coat , &c . and with these he sets up the trade of revolutionary agent . After all , however , he is but a political Jerry Diddier ; he does contrive to get a breakfast of sour milk , for which , however , he has to pay in corpore , ( as the old lawyers used to say , ) since he could not pay from his purse .
Vol . 15 . The dramas terminate with a fragment in prose , Die Aufgeregten , i . e . the Insurgents . We neither wonder nor regret that it was left incomplete . The author ' s purpose ( similar to that of the Burger-General ) was to expose as an object of ridicule the attempt of a conceited surgeon to raise the standard of rebellion against his sovereign , a Heichsgra / inn s Countess of the empire ;—a sort of parody of the revolutionary scenes which had
already begun in France . But , besides that the subject was too tragical for a joke , in effect the satire strikes less the Jacobins , than the political constitution which could be so assailed . The more than three hundred petty sovereigns of Germany aped ridiculously the formalities of greater powers . And even these otherwise very insignificant scenes , may be read with interest for the information they impart concerning the economy of the late petty states of the late * holy German empire .
Unterhalhingen deutscher Ausgewanderten , i . e . Amusements of German Emigrants . A noble family , driven over the Rhine , discourse , with more Socratic wisdom than dramatic passion , on the calamities of the times ; and , as a relief from the sad realities of the hour , have recourse to the old remedy—story-telling . Hence
is introduced that unique tale without a title , Das Marchen , —a word for which we have no corresponding term . In this tale there are no fairies ; nor is it legendary , for it is founded on no popular superstition ; nor does it resemble any thing we ever read , even Landor's Gebir is intelligible by its side . It is an experiment of what may be done by mere fancy . A juxta-position
and simplicity , ( they could neither read nor write , ) it was easy for him to make them believe hit story j whilst he gladdened the hearts of the poor woirieti as well by the substantial relief he afforded them , as by making them believe that their worthless kinsman had sot altogether forgotten them . The picture of their pimple piety *• * ra * tOWJuUMEa
Untitled Article
114 Gfaettes Works .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/46/
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