concerning the Elector,
concerning his own guilt. He says,

"I will not face the man who faces me
So nobly, with a knave's ignoble front!
Guilt, heavy guilt, upon my conscience weighs,
I fully do confess--"

He writes this to the Elector, and Nathalie embraces him exclaiming:

"And though twelve bullets made
You dust this instant, I could not resist
Caroling, sobbing, crying: 'Thus you please me!'"

I would gladly follow the great poet through the fifth act also, but it
is not indispensable for the analysis of the play, as the _denouement_
is easy to foresee--namely that the Prince, after already suffering one
death through the relinquishment of that idea which has been the guiding
principle of his life hitherto, is spared a second death. Finally I must
add that I have not chosen the _Prince of Homburg_ as the subject of my
criticism because this tragedy is the most successful of all Kleist's
plays, but merely because it offers the best opportunity for drawing a
comparison between the dramatic achievements of Kleist and those of
Koerner. And now, courage. We must start in with Koerner and we will
choose that one of his products which is universally declared the
greatest, his _Zriny_.

In discussing the _Prince of Homburg_ I could limit myself to a general
outline, as it is not possible that any one who reads the play could
ever have the least doubt whether the characters are correctly drawn. We
have not such an easy task with Koerner's _Zriny_, but rather must take
the opposite way. In order not to overpass the limits of this essay,
however, we will pay less attention to the play as a totality, which,
indeed, can occupy our attention only if the first investigation prove
favorable to the author.

The idea which kindles Zriny's enthusiasm is unconditional obedience to
Emperor and Fatherland. It must be admitted that it is an idea which may
have arisen in many a human breast in the year 1566, and which certainly
animated the heroic Zriny. It is not sufficient, however, for the
dramatic poet to give utterance to what fills the soul of his hero, for
that falls to the lot of history to perform. While the historian looks
upon every individual as a bomb, whose course and effect he must
calculate, but with whose origin he is but slightly concerned, it is the
affair of the dramatic poet--who, if he recognizes his high mission,
strives to complete history--to show how the character whom he has
chosen as a s