Ossian in Germany Part 1

Ossian in Germany.

by Rudolf Tombo.

PREFACE.

When the subject of Ossian's influence in Germany first occurred to me, it seemed a simple matter to exhaust the topic in the limits set by a work of this character. A little search, however, revealed that if the entire field were to be covered, the different authors could not be discussed with any degree of completeness. Another obstacle stood in the way of the fulfilment of the original scheme. The amount of material discovered at the outset in the British Museum led to the preparation of a card index of German Ossianiana; in Germany each library furnished additions at such a rapid rate, that the idea of a chronological bibliography soon suggested itself. The latter developed into such proportions, that it seemed advisable to publish it as an introduction to the literary material to follow. Nothing remained, therefore, but to confine the literary discussion to a certain period, and in order to retain the chronological sequence, as well as in consideration of the difficulty of obtaining material on the bardic poets in this country, the beginning was made with Klopstock and the "bards." It is the intention of the writer to discuss in later publications Ossian's influence upon Herder, Goethe, and Schiller, as also upon the poets of the _Storm and Stress_, of the _Gottinger Hain_, and of the Romantic School, some of the material for which has been collected. A short bibliography of Ossianic material in other languages has also been prepared, which will gladly be placed at the disposal of any one desirous of working up the subject. The author will be pleased to receive any corrections or additions to the bibliography that may suggest themselves to the reader.

It is fitting that I should here acknowledge my indebtedness to the men who made this thesis possible. Prof. Wm. H. Carpenter, Prof. Calvin Thomas, and Prof. A. V. W. Jackson have been true and untiring guides and a neverfailing source of inspiration, and I shall ever consider it a most rare privilege to have been enabled to carry on the major part of my advanced studies under their direction. My grat.i.tude is due also to the men who contributed to make my stay abroad such a pleasant and profitable one, to the professors under whom I studied at the University of Leipzig, as well as to the several librarians who were of service to me, and whom I always found most courteous and accommodating.

CHAPTER I.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GERMAN TRANSLATIONS, IMITATIONS, CRITICAL REVIEWS, ETC.

Introduction.

The following bibliography makes no claim to absolute completeness. The material required was in some instances so difficult of access, that exact data could not everywhere be given, but most of the entries are based upon personal investigation. Most of the short bibliographies that have hitherto appeared go back directly or indirectly to those of Denis[1] and Gurlitt,[2] both of which are incomplete and not without errors; the former contains less than thirty t.i.tles that come into question here.

A few words as to the composition of this bibliography may not be amiss.

The pivot of the whole is that collection of the socalled Poems of Ossian published by James Macpherson from 1760 to 1763, and as the t.i.tles of the different portions of this collection are frequently misquoted, I have deemed it advisable to prefix them to the German bibliography, together with the most important later editions. As to the German material, we have in the first place to consider the German translations of the whole or a part of these poems, together with the English reprints made in Germany, as well as the translations into other tongues published in Germany.[3] Several other collections, however, are so closely bound up in their influence in Germany with that of Macpherson, that I have not hesitated to include them. In the second place there are the critical essays upon the poems of Ossian, together with the historical and geographical treatises bearing upon the authenticity of the poems. Thirdly, we have an immense category of German imitations, in which department the drawing of strict lines has been most difficult; here the few epigrams and other poems in praise of Ossian may also be inserted. In the department of music I have given a number of compositions that have come directly to my notice. Several paintings and ill.u.s.trations of scenes from the poems of Ossian are also mentioned, but in neither of these fields is any pretension made to completeness. In both it has been found difficult to observe the exact chronological order, for which reason the works under these headings have been arranged at the end alphabetically according to authors.

Finally, we are to regard the critical reviews and notices of all the above categories in periodicals and newspapers published in Germany. The reviews and notices are not given in strict chronological order, but are in almost every case inserted directly below the work to which they refer. Advance notices when long are frequently given separately. During the years in which the influence of Ossian was at its height, everything has been given in the latter department that could be found, whereas in later years most reviews and short notices are omitted. As a rule the pages given in the reviews refer to those portions only that deal with Ossian.

Abbreviations have been but rarely used and never at the sacrifice of clearness and convenience. In cases where various editions come into consideration, the general rule has been observed to mention all where it seemed requisite, as _e. g._, in the case of translations; of less important works, only the first and the standard editions have been mentioned. It would, for example, be impossible to include an exhaustive list of the various editions of _Werthers Leiden_ within the limits of this bibliography.

Important English Works.

Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1760, pp. 2878: Two Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gallic or Erse Language.

Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and Translated from the Galic or Erse Language. Edinburgh. 1760.

_The same._ The Second Edition. Edinburgh. 1760. One entire poem is added, which stands No. 13 in this edition.

Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem, In Six Books: Together with several other Poems, composed by Ossian the Son of Fingal. Translated from the Galic Language, By James Macpherson. London: 1762.[4]

Temora, an Ancient Epic Poem, In Eight Books: Together with several other Poems, composed by Ossian, the Son of Fingal. Translated from the Galic Language, By James Macpherson. London: 1763.

The Works of Ossian, the Son of Fingal. In Two Volumes. Translated from the Galic Language By James Macpherson. The Third Edition. London: 1765.

The Poems of Ossian. Translated by James Macpherson, Esq.; In Two Volumes. A new Edition, carefully corrected, and greatly improved.

London: 1773.

Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the Poems of Ossian.

Drawn up, according to the direction of the committee by Henry MacKenzie, Esq. its convener and chairman, with a copious appendix, containing some of the princ.i.p.al Doc.u.ments on which the report is founded. Edinburgh, 1805.

The Poems of Ossian, in the original Gaelic, with a literal Translation into Latin, By the late Robert Macfarlan, A.M. Together with a Dissertation on the Authenticity of the Poems, by Sir John Sinclair, Bart. and a Translation from the Italian of the Abbe Cesarotti's Dissertation on the Controversy respecting the Authenticity of Ossian, with Notes and a supplemental Essay, By John M'Arthur, LL.D. Published under the Sanction of the Highland Society of London. 3 Volumes. London: 1807.

@1762.@ Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften Kunste und Tugend Von einigen Liebhabern derselben mehrentheils aus den Englischen Monatsschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben. Bremen und Leipzig. Vol. 5, ii, pp. 44852: Zwei Fragmenten der alten Dichtkunst von den Hochlandern in Schottland, aus der alten Gallischen oder Ersischen Sprache ubersetzet.

A prose translation of CarricThura, p. 152, l. 12p. 153, l. 7, and of The Songs of Selma, p. 210, l. 28p. 211, l. 34,[5] the originals of which had appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1760.

Cf. _infra_, p. 76.

Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften und der freyen Kunste. Leipzig.

Vol. 8, ii, p. 349: Notice of Fingal. Cf. _infra_, p. 75.

@1763.@ Hannoverisches Magazin. Erster Jahrgang vom Jahre 1763.

Hannover, 1764. No. 92, pp. 145770: Nachricht von den Gedichten des Ossian, eines alten schottischen Barden; nebst einigen Anmerkungen uber das Alterthum derselben.

_Ibid._, No. 94, pp. 14891504, No. 95, pp. 150520, No. 96, pp.

152134, No. 97, pp. 153446: Auszug und Uebersetzung des Fingal, eines alten epischen Gedichtes. Von R. E. R.

The author of both the article and the translation is Rudolf Erich Raspe, 173794. Cf. _infra_, pp. 767.

Bremisches Magazin. Vol. 6, ii, p. 461: Notice of Fingal. Cf. _infra_, p. 76.

Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften. Vol. 9, ii, pp. 3156: Review of Temora. Cf. _infra_, p. 75.

@1764.@ Fragmente der alten Hochschottlandischen Dichtkunst, nebst einigen andern Gedichten Ossians, eines Schottischen Barden; aus dem Englischen ubersetzt. Hamburg.

Weak prose translation by Joh. Andr. Engelbrecht of the original sixteen fragments together with Macpherson's Preface; also of Comala, The War of Caros, Carthon, The Death of Cuthullin, CarricThura, and Berrathon from the first ed. of Fingal (1761).

Instead of the 10th, 11th and 12th fragments, The Songs of Selma are given from the ed. of Fingal. The notes to Berrathon contain also the translation of Minvane's Lament for Ryno, pp. 2504. Denis, Bibliography, 1784, Ersch und Gruber, Allgemeine Encyklopadie, _sub_ Ossian (p. 429), and others have 1763, but I have been unable to trace an edition published in that year. This and the following translation are sometimes given as one made by Engelbrecht and Wittenberg, _e. g._, Saunders, The Life and Letters of James Macpherson, p.236, etc. They were, however, published as two distinct and separate books. Cf. _infra_, p. 77.

Fingal, ein HeldenGedicht, in sechs Buchern, von Ossian, einem alten schottischen Barden. Nebst verschiedenen andern Gedichten von eben demselben. Hamburg und Leipzig.

Literal prose translation by Albrecht Wittenberg, 17821807, of Fingal together with Macpherson's Preface to the same; also of Comala, The War of Caros, The War of Inisthona, The Battle of Lora, Conlath and Cuthona, and Carthon.-Vorrede des deutschen Uebersetzers: 8 pp. The translation is not by Engelbrecht and Wittenberg, as stated in Kurschner's Dtsche Nat.Litt., Klopstock, iv, p. ii, in HofmannWellenhof's biography of Denis, pp. 165, 194, Knothe's biography of Kretschmann, etc. Cf. _infra_, p. 77.

Bremisches Magazin. Vol. 7, i, p. 227: Notice of the Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, the Son of Fingal. _Ibid._, p. 229: Notice of Temora.

Cf. _infra_, p.7 6.

@1765.@ Memoire de M. de C. au Sujet des Poemes de M. Macpherson. Koln.

Cf. _infra_, pp. 778.

An essay throwing doubt upon the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, reprinted from Le Journal des Scavans, Paris, MayDecember, 1764. Amsterdam reprint, JuneAugust, October, 1764, and February, 1765.

Gottingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen. Gottingen. i, pp. 12931: Review of Fingal.

The author of the review is Albrecht von Haller, 170877; cp.

_ibid._, 1767, and cf. his Tagebuch (1787); for contents cf.

_infra_, p. 78.

@1766.@ Neues Bremisches Magazin. Bremen. Vol. I, i, pp. 154: Fragmente der Alten Dichtkunst in den Hochlandern von Schotland, gesammelt und aus dem Englischen ubersetzet.

Prose translation of the first sixteen fragments together with Macpherson's Preface.-A separate reprint of this translation was published in Bremen in the same year. Cf. _infra_, p. 80.