, Seraphina (_Das Majorat_), Annunciata
(_Doge_), Madelon and Mdlle. de Scudery (_Scuderi_), Rose (_Meister
Martin_), Cecily (_Berganza_), and others.

Carlyle, whose brief and for the most part truthful essay upon Hoffmann
(in vol. ii. of his _German Romance_, 1829) appears to have been based
largely upon others' opinions rather than upon first-hand acquaintance
with his author, says that in him "there are the materials of a
glorious poet, but no poet has been fashioned out of them." And when we
seek for poetic elements in Hoffmann's works, we are not altogether
disappointed. We have just stated that his heroines are creations of a
poet's fancy; and in the scene between Father Hilarius and Kreisler in
_Kater Murr_, and in the passages and characters already alluded to in
_Die Elixiere_, in the sunny cheerful _Maerchen_--_Der goldene Topf_
(which Hoffmann calls his "poetic masterpiece"), in _Das Geluebde_,
_Nussknacker_, &c., we enter the world of higher imagination. Again,
whilst in _Doge und Dogaresse_ we are arrested by the poetic charm of
the island life of the Lagune in the golden days of Venice's splendour,
in _Meister Martin_ we are no less, perhaps still more impressed by the
rich romantic beauty of life in the old mediaeval town of Nuremberg. In
_Die Scuderi_ we are made acquainted with the cold glittering court of
Louis XIV. through the lovable character of Mdlle. de Scudery; and
whilst on the one hand following with deep interest the fate of Brusson
and his love, on the other we are led to contrast the subtilty of the
plot with the fine analytic power of Poe in The _Murders in the Rue
Morgue_. When visiting with Hoffmann the weird castle of _Das Majorat_,
we are made to hear the cold shrill blasts of the Baltic whistling past
our ears, and to feel the storm and the sea-spray dashing in our faces.
These four tales are unquestionably the best that Hoffmann has written;
to them must be added _Meister Wachte_, on account of its excellent
characterisation of the hero. In striking contrast with the majority of
the things he has written, these five tales show him when he is most
objective; in them he has wielded his powers with more wise restraint
than in any of the others, and introduced less of his strange fantastic
caricatures. Next after these tales must be named, though on a lower
level, and simply because they best illustrate his peculiar genius, the
two books of _Kater Murr_, the fairy tale _Der goldene Topf_,