desponded,
and it was not till he read Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" that the full
force of poetic fervor awoke within him. "Wallenstein" had been laid
aside; he took it up again with glowing feelings; he wrote "The Glove"
and "The Ring of Polycrates;" he revised "The Ghostseer" for a new
edition, and later on he had the joy of witnessing a masterly
performance of the part of Wallenstein by the fine actor, Graff.
Following his great dramatic trilogy, "The Camp of Wallenstein," "The
Piccolomini," and "The Death of Wallenstein" (the English rights in
which he sold to Bell, the publisher, for L60). Schiller now devoted
himself to "Mary Stuart" and "Macbeth," and still farther undermined
his health by regularly burning the midnight oil. On May 14, 1790,
"Macbeth" was performed, and received with tumultuous applause; three
days before this performance he had read to the players the first four
acts of "Mary Stuart," and when the last and fifth act was written he
said to Koerner, "I am only now beginning to understand my trade."
Following "Mary Stuart," he wrote "The Maid of Orleans," and then he
was absorbed in what is perhaps the greatest of his works, "William
Tell," the first reading of which took place in Goethe's house on
March 6, 1804. On the 9th it was rehearsed at the theatre, and on the
very next day he commenced a new drama, "Demetrius, or, The Bloody
Bridal of Moscow," thus following out, as indeed he had done
throughout the whole of his career, his axiom that life without
industry was valueless. "William Tell" was a triumphant success, and
may be said to have been the last leaf in his laurel wreath, for he
was destined not to live long after this great triumph. On May 9,
1805, he died, at the early age of forty-six, and all Germany mourned
the loss. "Dear good one!" he said to his devoted wife, fondling her
hand and kissing it the day before his death. It is recorded that in
his last hours he spoke of hearing in his dreams the pealing of a
bell. It may be that his own beautiful poem, "The Song of the Bell,"
was in his mind, and that, with the conviction that death was nigh,
the fancy was inspired by the lines in his poem:

"And as the strains die on the ear
That it peals forth with tuneful might,
So let it teach that nought lasts here,
That all things earthly take their flight."

[Signature of the author.]

GOETHE[10]

[Footnote 10: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

By REV. EDW