The Philosophy of History Part 12

Edited by the Author of "Granby."

"This work strongly reminds us of Miss Austen's admirable novels."--_New Monthly Mag._

"It is full of feminine loveliness, and that quickness of observation which is the peculiar gift of the s.e.x."--_Court Journal._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Sammtliche werke, vorrede, p. 8. vol. 6.

[2] Count Maistre.--See his Soirees de St. Petersbourg.

[3] The aristocracy of French literature, and a very splendid aristocracy it is, has been for the last twenty years decidedly Catholic. The enemies of the church are to be found almost exclusively in the bourgeoisie, and still more in the canaille, of that literature.

[4] The words which the King of Bavaria used at the moment of founding this University, are remarkable. "I do not wish," said he, "that my subjects should be learned at the cost of religion, nor religious at the cost of learning."--See Baader's opening speech in 1826. _Philosophische Schriften_, page 366. These are golden words, which ought to be engraven on the hearts of all princes. In other words, the monarch meant to say, I wish to consecrate science by religion, and I wish to confirm and extend religion by science. This sovereign is the most enlightened, as well as munificent, patron of learning in Europe; and whether we consider his zeal in the cause of religion--his solicitude for the freedom and prosperity of his subjects--his profound knowledge, as well as active patronage, of art and science--and his true-hearted German frankness and probity; he is, in every respect, a worthy namesake of the ill.u.s.trious Emperor Maximilian. He has a.s.sisted in making his capital a true German Athens; and, small as it is, it may at this moment compete in art, literature, and science, with the proudest cities in Europe.

[5] Geschichte der Religion.--1804-11.

[6] Essai sur l'indifference en matiere de religion: 4 vols. 8vo.

Paris, 1823;--a work where learning, eloquence, and philosophy have laid their richest offerings at the shrine of Christianity.

[7] In the beautiful critique inserted in the Concordia on M. de la Martine's "Meditations poetiques," (1820) Schlegel observes that Lord Byron was the representative of a by-gone poesy, and La Martine the herald of a new Christian poetry that was to come. Comparing the three greatest contemporary poets out of his own country, Scott, Byron, and La Martine, Schlegel saw in the productions of the first, the poetry of a vague reminiscence--in those of the second, the poetry of despair; and in those of the last, the commencement of a poetry of hope.[8] Much as he reprobated the anti-christian spirit and tendency of Lord Byron's muse, and much as he rejoiced that its pernicious influence was in some degree counteracted by the n.o.ble effusions of the French rhapsodist, he still rendered full justice to the great genius of the British bard. He calls him in one of his last works, "the wonderful English poet--perhaps the greatest--certainly the most remarkable poet of our times:"[9]--an encomium which Byron's admirers may learn to appreciate, when they remember who his contemporaries were, and who the critic was, that p.r.o.nounced this judgment.

[8] See his History of Literature, vol. 2. New edition in German.

[9] Philosophie des ebens, page 21.

[10] See the Preface to the Lectures on Dramatic Literature, in the French translation.

[11] See Sammtliche werke. vol. x. p. 267.

[12] Concordia, page 59.

[13] Concordia, page 363.

[14] See Concordia.

[15] In a number of the Concordia for 1820, Adam Muller frankly declared his opinion, that all the friends of social order would soon concur in the necessity of re-establishing the const.i.tution of the three estates. This is language which at Vienna is as bold as it is auspicious.

[16] Those political changes which since Schlegel's death have occurred in the British const.i.tution, while they have deprived property of much of its legitimate influence, have caused intelligence to be even less represented than heretofore in the legislature.

[17] Philosophische Schriften. vol. ii.

[18] See Concordia, page 66.

[19] According to the just remark of Burke, the states-const.i.tution was in latter ages, better preserved in the Republics than in the monarchies of Europe.--See his letters on a regicide peace.

[20] Among these great conservatives, M. de Bonald is the only one who can be regarded as favourable to Absolutism. As long as this great writer deals in general propositions, he seldom errs; but when he comes to apply his principles to practice, then the political prejudices in which he was bred, and which a too limited course of reading has failed to correct--lead him sometimes into exaggerations and errors. On the whole he is as inferior to Burke as a publicist, as he is superior to him as a metaphysician.

[21] This view of the matter is confirmed by the high authority of the great Catholic philosopher--Molitor. Speaking of Sch.e.l.ling and his disciples, he says, (in the words of his recent French translator,) _Quoique leurs premier ouvrages ne respirent pas encore entierement l'esprit pur et veritable_, mais soient entaches plus ou moins de pantheisme ou de naturalisme, comme cela etoit presque necessaire a une epoque encore si profondement enfoncee dans l'incredulite et l'orgueil, cependant leurs principes ont eveille l'esprit religieux, et donne une base plus profonde aux verites de cet ordre. C'est dans ce sens qu'on a retravaille toutes les sciences, et l'on peut dire que ces hommes ont plus contribue a conduire vers la religion, que cette mult.i.tude de compendium dogmatiques du siecle dernier. He then adds, "Ou peut se faire une idee de la direction religieuse de la physique par les ecrits de Steffens, Schubert, Pfaff, et Baader. Cet esprit conduira encore a de plus grands resultats; et bientot de nouvelles decouvertes faites au ciel etoile, sur la terre et dans son interieur, aussi bien que dans l'organisme, affermiront et mettront dans une nouvelle lumiere ces hautes verites connues des anciens, mais que le sens stupide des modernes rejetait comme des songes et des superst.i.tions." p.p.

165-6. Philosophie de la Tradition, traduite de l'Allemand. Paris.

1834.

[22] Philosophie der Sprache, p. 118-19.

[23] Ibid. p. 121.

[24] Philosophie des Lebens, p. 142. N.B. I have somewhat abridged the author's words.

[25] Philosophie des Lebens. pp. 86-7.

[26] Ibid, p. 85.

[27] See Philosophie de la Tradition, traduit de l'Allemand, p. 26.

Paris, 1834.

[28] Philosophie des Lebens, p. 126.

[29] Philosophie des Lebens, p. 129.

[30] A complete edition of Frederick Schlegel's works in fifteen volumes 8vo. was announced in 1822. Of this edition ten volumes only, as I am informed, have appeared. To these fifteen volumes must be added the four which were published in the last years of the author's life, making in all nineteen volumes.

[31] This translation I have not read, nor would I be at all competent to p.r.o.nounce any opinion on its merits; but a very able judge, the Baron d'Eckstein, has declared that in point of grace, energy, and dignity, it surpa.s.ses, as far as it goes, the famous translation by Schleiermacher.

[32] The Abbe Gerbet.

[33] N. B. The authorities on which the several facts relative to Schlegel's personal history have been advanced are the following: 1. The Biographic des Vivans. Paris. 2ndly. An article for July, 1829, in the French Globe (apparently an abridgment of the account of Schlegel in the German work, Conversations Lexicon). 3. A fuller and better account of the author in a French work published several years ago at Paris, ent.i.tled, "Memoirs of distinguished Converts."

For the knowledge of some facts, the writer is also indebted to the interesting journal "Le Catholique," which Schlegel's able friend and disciple, the Baron d'Eckstein, edited at Paris, from 1826 to 1829.

[34] The author is now known to be Professor MOLITOR. The second part of this work has just appeared in Germany. TRANS.

[35] Schlegel's first great work was ent.i.tled "the Greeks and the Romans," published in the year 1797.

[36] The result of our author's researches on Hindoo literature and philosophy was evidenced in his work ent.i.tled "The Language and Wisdom of the Indians," published in 1808.

[37] Schlegel alludes to "The Lectures on Modern History," which he delivered at Vienna in the year 1810.

[38] The History of Religion by Count Frederick s...o...b..rg;--a n.o.ble monument raised by genius and learning to the honour of Religion.--_Trans._

[39] Schlegel alludes to Alexander Von Humboldt.--_Trans._

[40] See Ritter's Geography, 1st part, page 548,--1st Edition in German.

[41] We must not suppose that the impiety of the Cainites was of a dogmatic kind. How could those primitive men, living so near the Fountain-head of revelation, conversing with those who had witnessed the rise and first development of man's marvellous history, endowed with that quick, intuitive science which, in the operations of external nature, revealed to them the agency of invisible spirits, witnessing the wondrous manifestations of G.o.d's love and power, the active ministry of his messengers of light; and, lastly, engaged themselves in a close communication with the infernal powers; how could they, I say, fall into atheism or any other species of speculative unbelief? Their impiety was of a more practical nature, displaying itself in a daring violation of the precepts of Heaven, and in the practice of a dark, mysterious magic. By the allurements of sense, and the fascination of their false science, they by degrees inveigled the great ma.s.s of mankind into their errors. Their vast powers, supported and strengthened by infernal agency, were calculated to introduce disorder and confusion in the economy of the moral and physical universe, and to let loose on this probationary world the science of the abyss. What do I say? The barrier between the visible and invisible world would have been broken down--h.e.l.l would have ruled the earth, had not the Almighty by an awful judgment buried the guilty race of men and their infernal knowledge in the waters of the Deluge. In the race of Cham, however, which perpetuated so many traditions of the early Cainites, some fragments of this ante-diluvian science of evil were preserved; and traces of it may still be discerned among the worshippers of Siva in India.--_Trans._