characterization of his enemies and the invention of adequate tortures
for them, to leave room for even a suggestion of the Weltschmerz which
we might expect to result from such painful emotions.

It is scarcely necessary to theorize as to what would have been the
attitude and conduct of a sensitive Hoelderlin or a proud-spirited Lenau
in a similar position. Lenau is too proud to protest, preferring to
suffer. Heine is too vain to appear as a sufferer, so he meets
adversity, not in a spirit of admirable courage, but in a spirit of
bravado. In giving lyric utterance to his resentment, Heine is conscious
that the world is looking on, and so he indulges, even in the expression
of his Weltschmerz, in a vain ostentation which stands in marked
contrast to Lenau's dignified pride. He is quite right when he says in a
letter to his friend Moser: "Ich bin nicht gross genug, um Erniedrigung
zu tragen."[243]

As an illustration of the vain display which he makes of his sadness,
his poem "Der Traurige" may be quoted in part:

Allen thut es weh in Herzen,
Die den bleichen Knaben sehn,
Dem die Leiden, dem die Schmerzen
Auf's Gesicht geschrieben stehn.[244]

A similar impression is made by the concluding numbers of the
Intermezzo, "Die alten, boesen Lieder."[245] And here again the
comparison,--even if merely as to size,--of a coffin with the
"Heidelberger Fass" is most incongruous, to say the least, and tends
very effectually to destroy the serious sentiment which the poem, with
less definite exaggerations, might have conveyed. Similarly overdone is
his poetic preface to the "Rabbi" sent to his friend Moser:[246]

Brich aus in lauten Klagen
Du duestres Maertyrerlied,
Das ich so lang getragen
Im flammenstillen Gemuet!

Es dringt in alle Ohren,
Und durch die Ohren ins Herz;
Ich habe gewaltig beschworen
Den tausendjaehrigen Schmerz.

Es weinen dir Grossen und Kleinen,
Sogar die kalten Herrn,
Die Frauen und Blumen weinen,
Es weinen am Himmel die Stern.

It is not necessary, even if it were to the point, to adduce further
evidence of Heine's vanity as expressed in his prose writings, or in
poems such as the much-quoted

Nennt man die besten Namen,
So wird auch der meine genannt.[247]

It cannot be denied that this element of vanity, of showiness, only
serves to emphasize our impression of the unreality of much of Heine's
Weltschmerz.

With the refe