at in the situation of
the unhappy man, he would not have been better himself. The writer
fulfils his purpose of plucking us down from our proud security. Man
is just as good or bad, we say to ourselves, as his external situation;
out external situation is the fate of all of us; and we see in the
history of a single individual a sketch of the common lot of man.
Moreover, this history of the 'criminal' is so remarkable in point of
style, that one always reads it with fresh interest. The language is
extremely simple, clear, and natural, and there is not a trace of the
wearisome, constantly occurring breaks, and the affected antitheses
that marked Schiller's early style. Every thing shows that the author
moved in a clear, free element. In some portions he has been eminently
successful; as, for instance, in describing the poacher's state of
mind, when he is about to point his gun, at his evil genius, Robert.
If, after all our praise, we have one particular to blame, it is this
circumstance, that the weakly and delicate 'host of the Sun,' who had
not as yet distinguished himself in the trade of thieving, should have
been unanimously chosen by the robbers for their leader, on his first
entrance into their cave. Although he was well known to them as a good
poacher, they might yet have reasonable doubts whether he was qualified
to be their captain."

Before quitting Goethe and Schiller, it is as well to state that Goethe
was born at Frankfort on the Maine, on the 28th of August, 1749, and
died at Weimar on the 22nd of March, 1832; and that Schiller was born
at Marbach, on the Neckar, on the 10th of November, 1759, and died at
Weimar on the 9th of May, 1805.

Johann August Musaeus, one of the most popular tale writers of Germany,
was born at Jena, in 1735. His father was a justice there, and was
soon afterwards removed to Eisenach, by an official appointment. Young
Musaeus was educated by a relation named Weissenborn, who held the
situation of "General Superintendent" at Eisenach, and with whom he
lived from the age of nine to that of nineteen. He studied theology
for four years at Jena, and it is thought he might have succeeded as a
pastor had not the peasants of Eisenach refused to accept him, because
he had been convicted of the grievous crime of--dancing. In
consequence of this check to his theological career, he turned his
thoughts to literature, and made his first essay by a parody on
Richardson's celebrated no