without effect.
Literature attracts nearly all the powerful thought that circulates in
Germany; and the theatre is the great nucleus of German literature.

It was to be expected that Schiller would participate in a feeling so
universal, and so accordant with his own wishes and prospects. The
theatre of Mannheim was at that period one of the best in Germany; he
felt proud of the share which he had in conducting it, and exerted
himself with his usual alacrity in promoting its various objects.
Connected with the duties of his office, was the more personal duty of
improving his own faculties, and extending his knowledge of the art
which he had engaged to cultivate. He read much, and studied more. The
perusal of Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, and the other French classics,
could not be without advantage to one whose exuberance of power, and
defect of taste, were the only faults he had ever been reproached
with; and the sounder ideas thus acquired, he was constantly busy in
exemplifying by attempts of his own. His projected translations from
Shakspeare and the French were postponed for the present: indeed,
except in the instance of _Macbeth_, they were never finished: his
_Conradin von Schwaben_, and a second part of the _Robbers_, were
likewise abandoned: but a number of minor undertakings sufficiently
evinced his diligence: and _Don Carlos_, which he had now seriously
commenced, was occupying all his poetical faculties.

Another matter he had much at heart was the setting forth of a
periodical work, devoted to the concerns of the stage. In this
enterprise, Schiller had expected the patronage and cooeperation of the
German Society, of which he was a member. It did not strike him that
any other motive than a genuine love of art, and zeal for its
advancement, could have induced men to join such a body. But the zeal
of the German Society was more according to knowledge than that of
their new associate: they listened with approving ear to his vivid
representations, and wide-spreading projects, but declined taking any
part in the execution of them. Dalberg alone seemed willing to support
him. Mortified, but not disheartened by their coldness, Schiller
reckoned up his means of succeeding without them. The plan of his work
was contracted within narrower limits; he determined to commence it on
his own resources. After much delay, the first number of the
_Rheinische Thalia_, enriched by three acts of _Don Carlos_, appeared
in 1785.