e_, which is not devoid of interest. Several
of the things in this collection suggest comparison with Poe's writings
for weirdness and bizarre imaginative power, though of course there are
wide differences between the styles of the two writers.

In March, 1820, came a letter of good wishes from Beethoven, whose
music Hoffmann greatly admired; hence the letter was a source of much
real pleasure to him. Spontini, the well-known writer of operas, came
to Berlin in the summer of the same year and was received by Hoffmann
with every mark of respect. It was indeed maintained that the composer
of _Undine_ showed an unworthy servility in the way in which he
publicly acknowledged Spontini's talent. Whether this is true would
appear doubtful; servility was not one of the author's failings, though
vanity was. By Spontini's ministering to his vanity Hoffmann may have
been provoked to return him the compliment in his own coin, but it is
hardly likely that he went so far as to flatter against his own
conviction or against his better judgment. Of his longer and more
ambitious works the one which he ranked highest in merit was
_Lebensansichten des Katers Murr, nebst Biographie des Kapellmeisters
Johannes Kreisler_, the first volume of which appeared in 1820 and the
second in 1822. In respect of literary form and execution, as well as
of artistic worth, this is undoubtedly Hoffmann's most finished
production (_i.e._ of his longer works). It contains a good deal of
genial, keen, and subtle satire, conveyed in the doings of Murr the
tom-cat; and it is also a useful source for early biographical details,
both of facts and of mental development and opinions, contained in the
"waste-paper leaves" (treating of Kreisler), inserted at frequent
intervals between those which carry on the life and adventures of Murr.
The third volume, which was all ready and completed in the author's
head, and only wanted writing down, never came to the birth. The first
two volumes present to us a personification of Hoffmann's humoristic
self, and the third was to culminate in Kreisler's insanity, a result
brought about by the disappointments and baffling experiences he
encountered in life--Hoffmann's own career, that is; and the whole was
to conclude with the _Lichte Stunden eines wahnsinnigen Musikers_,--a
work which had been occupying his mind ever since he was in Bamberg,
and which had not yet been executed. In 1821 was published one of his
weakest things, a f