) much kind fancy, a soft glowing exuberance, and traces
of a genius perhaps capable of higher developments (German
Romance, I, 267, footnote).
of a genius perhaps capable of higher developments (German
Romance, I, 267, footnote).
Thomas Carlyle
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? 112
EDITOR'S NOTES
109. "Irish Melodist" suggests Thomas Moore (1779-1852),
whose Irish Melodies appeared in 1806. Carlyle had known his
La 11a Rookh and Fudge Family since 1818 (Early Letters of
Thomas Carlyle, I, 153-54; II, 240) and his Epicurean since
1828 (Speck, p. 4).
110. Jeronymo Osorio (1506-1580).
111. In August, 1826, Carlyle considered Per Tod Abels by
Salomon Gessner (1730-1788) a faint and washy idyll (German
Romance, I, 3).
112. In Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, which Carlyle
had translated between June, 1823, and May, 1824. See also
Note 16.
113. For more than a decade Carlyle had admired the style
and valued the sense of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).
As a result of almost his earliest readings in German (summer,
1819) Carlyle concluded that Lessing had spirit in him (Fort-
nightly, CI, 634). And two years later he suggested Lessing
(among others) for Miss Welsh to read as she too began her
German studies (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 6). From 1826
on, he considered Lessing an earnest and even noble sceptic
who deserved to believe (German Romance, II, 126, note; Es-
says , I, 18; I, 47-48). Though Lessing's ruling bias, accord-
ing to Carlyle, was logic, he also had some humor (Essays, I,
18); and he was wise (Essays, I, 31), a true man, though a tart
one (Letters of Carlyle, p. 135). Lessing's literary and art
criticism and his philosophic or religious scepticism were of
higher mood (said Carlyle in 1827) than had yet in their times
been heard in Europe; for it was the Hamburgische Dramatur-
gic that had first exploded the pretensions of the French theater,
had made Shakespeare known, and had prepared the way for the
brighter era of literature in Germany; his Laokoon had thrown
deep rays of light into the philosophy of art; and his misleading-
ly entitled Dialogues on Freemasons (Ernst und Falk: Gesprache
fur Freimaurer, 1778) had contained teachings that would still
be of value to many readers, even as the second quarter of the
new century began (Essays, I, 48). Lessing's dramatic excel-
lence seemed notable too. At least his Minna and his Emilia,
Carlyle said, ranked close to the plays of Schiller and Goethe
(Essays, I, 48, 359). And similarly worthy was his literary
style. In 1827 Carlyle quoted an utterance by Lessing on style,
and approved it (Essays, I, 19); and again, in 1828, he consid-
ered Lessing's style more expressive than that of any of Less-
ing's predecessors (ibid. , I, 213). While the present History
was in composition (May, 1830) his letter to Goethe suggested
the role he meant to assign to Lessing in this literary history.
That is, in 1830 (somewhat as in 1826) he considered Lessing a
figure standing between two periods -- an earnest sceptic Strug-
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
113
gling to work his way into the region of spiritual truth and some-
times achieving brave glimpses of that promised land (Goethe
Correspondence, p. 190). In the present History itself Carlyle
four times specifically mentioned Lessing (referring to him
twice as the source of valuable materials). Furthermore, the
volume ends on an analogy between the stages of a nation's cul-
tural development and the stages of an individual's cultural de-
velopment. This analogy, which is frequently involved in the
concept of historical development in this volume, bears some
resemblance to an important feature of Lessing's Die Erziehung
des Menschengeschlechts, 1780 (see, for example, Section 93 of
Erziehung). The mere analogy itself, however, need not be
specifically connected with Lessing or any other German, for
it is old and widespread (for example, Samuel Johnson's "Pre-
face" to his edition of Shakespeare).
114. Carlyle's interest in Michel Eyquem Montaigne (1533-
1592) seems to have belonged to the early years. In 1818 he
quoted Montaigne on religious doubt (Early Letters of Thomas
Carlyle, I, 162). By March 29, 1820, in an article written on
Montaigne for Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, he condemned the con-
tents of Journal du Voyage and attempted (with some success)
to characterize the Essais and their author (Essays, V, 66-69).
Nevertheless a notebook entry three years later indicates that
even by late 1823 he had read only one volume of Essais (Two
Note Books, p. 53). Presumably the one volume in question
was Vol. II (of an 1818 edition), which is listed among the books
at Carlyle's Chelsea House (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th ed. ,
Item 47).
115. The numerals in square brackets [l-22]in the margins are
mine, added to facilitate reference in this Note. A comparison
of Carlyle's specimens with the collection in Lessings s'ammt-
liche Schriften (Herausgegeben von Karl Lachmann. Dritte,
auf's neue durchgesehene und vermehrte Auflage, besorgt durch
Franz Muncker. Leipzig, Goschen, 1900), XV, 466-75, 478-80,
shows the following facts. Of the twenty-two proverbs here
quoted by Carlyle, all but one are assigned to their sources by
Lessing. That is, seventeen of them (the bracketed Numbers
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22)
are assigned by Lessing to Christoph Lehmann's Florilegium
Politicum Auctum (apparently printed 1630; again," Lubeck, 1639;
Frankfurt, 1662). Three of the twenty-two (Numbers 2, 9, 12)
are assigned by Lessing to Sebastian Franck's Sprichworter und
Apophtegmen [1545J. One of the twenty-two, Number 16, Lessing
assigns to a work called Burgerlust, "zw. Th. 1664. 12. " And
that same p. 12 of the Second Part of Burgerlust is also listed
by Lessing as the source of a proverb that Carlyle copied in
German (between Numbers 19 and 20) but crossed off without
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? 114
EDITOR'S NOTES
making an English translation of it:
Sieh auf Dich und auf die Deinen:
Darnach so schilt mich und die Meinen.
Of the total twenty-two pr-overbs, the only one that Lessing
does not assign to one of the three sources mentioned above is
Number 19; for it, he assigns no source at all. In text, Car-
lyle's proverbs show some minor differences from those in the
text of Lessing: slight differences in punctuation (in Numbers
7, 10, 16, and 21); slight differences in spelling (in Numbers
5, 8, 10, 17 ; and in Number 13, Carlyle reads gebracht in-
stead of bracht); and one omission (in Number 4, Carlyle
omits a second couplet).
116. In December, 1826, Carlyle had written the Latin ver-
sion in his notebook (Two Note Books, p. 93). His interest in
proverbs, from various sources, was thus not new in 1830
(for example, Two Note Books, pp. 85, 97-99, 102, 121, 129,
132, 146). Systematic examination of his writings would re-
veal much folklore.
117. Carlyle had entered this Scottish proverb in his notebook
as early as the fall of 1825 (Two Note Books, p. 66).
118. Carlyle used at least two works by Johann Gustav Gott-
lieb Bu? sching (1783-1829) in this History of German Literature:
Bu? sching, Volks-Sagen, Ma? hrchen und Legenden, Leipzig, 1812
(Carlyle apparently owned an 1820 edition of it: see Carlyle's
House Catalogue, 7th ed. , Item 126), and Bu? sching and Von der
Hagen, Literarischer Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen
Poesie, von der a? ltesten Zeit bis in das sechzehnte Jahrhundert
Berlin, 1812. He mentioned, but presumably did not use, Busch-
ing and Von der Hagen, Deutsche Gedichte des Mittelalters, Ber-
lin, 1808-1825, 2 Bde. , which contained Der Heldenbuch.
Eventually he acquired Busching's three-volume edition of Hans
Sachs ernstliche Trauerspiele, Nu? rnberg, 1816 (Carlyle's
House Catalogue, 1896, p. 86) and a book described as Busching's
Lieben im Mittelalter, 1817 (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th ed. ,
Item 131)7 The fact that he autographed the latter book in 1849
may indicate very little about the date of acquisition.
Carlyle's regard for Friedrich Heinrich vonder Hagen
(1780-1856), Busching's collaborator, was high, as will be
seen elsewhere in this History. In addition to the collaborative
work by Von der Hagen and Bu? sching just mentioned, Carlyle
also used in this History several works by Von der Hagen alone:
his Die Nibelungen; ihre Bedeutung fu? r die Gegenwart und fu? r
immer (Breslau, 1819), his edition Der Nibelungen Lied (Dritte
berichtigte, mit Einleitung und Wo? rterbuch vermehrte Auflage.
Breslau, 1820), his translation Der Nibelungen Lied (erneuert
und erkla? rt. Zweite Ausgabe. Franckfurt am Main, 1824), and
possibly his translation Wilkina- und Niflunga - Saga, oder Die-
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? EDITOR'S NOTES 115
trichvon Bern und die Nibelungen (in Nordische Heldenromane,
1814, Bde. I--III). Certain passages, separately noted, in the
present History may be especially indebted to the "Einleitung"
of Vonder Hagen's 18Z0 edition of Per Nibelungen Lied. And
in the essay "The Nibelungen Lied, which Carlyle was to
make perhaps almost entirely from two chapters of the
present History early in 1831 and to publish in the 29th issue
of the We stminster Review, he was frequently to refer to Die
Nibelungen, ihre Bedeutung (Essays, II, 227, 233 footnote, 255
footnote, 260 footnote, 265-66 footnote, 267, 270; see also II,
220).
119. The allusion may be to Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm (1785-
1863) and Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786-1859), Kinder- und Haus-
marchen, 1812-1814, 2 vols. , or possibly to their Deutsche
Sagen, Berlin, 1816-1818, 2 vols'. Later in this History, Car-
lyle alluded to some unspecified work by them bearing upon the
Nibelungen Lied. Though in January, 1830, he had feared their
den altdeutschen Meistergesang, Gottingen, 1811, might
prove shallow (Early Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle, p. 165),
he eventually acquired the work (Sotheby Catalogue, Item 105).
120. British Museum's earliest Hickathrift chapbook -- A Pleas-
ant and Delightful History of Thomas Hickathrift, [Pt. Ip- was
printed at Whitehaven, [1780 *H The History of Thomas Hicka-
thrift, Pt. II, was printed at London presumably in the same
year.
121. Middle High German Sifrit, for Siegfried.
122. According to Morgan's Bibliography (p. 350),William
Beckford's Popular Tales of the Germans (London, Murray,
1791, 2 vols. , translated from J. C. A. Musaus's Volks-
mahrchen der Deutschen) contained "Elfin-freaks, or the . . .
legends of Number-Nip. Henry Crabb Robinson had first
told Carlyle, in the summer of 1824, about this translation
(Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 396).
123. Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1811), Beschreibung
einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, Berlin und
Stettin, 1783-1796, 12 vols. In spring, 1826, and againby
January 20, 1831, Carlyle alluded disparagingly to Nicolai
(Meister, I, 22 footnote, and Essays, II, 360).
124. Concerning St. George, see Edward Gibbon (1737-1794),
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Lon-
don, TTf6~:T7887~6~ voTsTJT Chapter XXIII (near the end of the
chapter). Though Carlyle attempted Gibbon's Decline in 1809"
1810 (Masson, p. 231), he had still read only one volume by
November, 1817, when he moved to Kirkcaldy (Early Letters
of Thomas Carlyle, I, 127). There, among Edward Irving's
books, by mid-February, 1818, occurred his epoch-marking
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? 116
EDITOR'S NOTES
experience with Gibbon. Though he read the 12-volume set at
the rate of a volume a day, and felt qualified admiration for its
winged sarcasms, he continued for half a century to believe it,
of all books, the most impressive on his then state of mind
(Reminiscences, II, 28). From this reading he dated the ex-
tirpation, from his mind, of the last remnants of orthodox be-
lief in miracles (Masson, pp. 263-64; see also Allingham, p.
232). Though he then, and thereafter, considered The Decline
a work of immense research and magnificent execution -- a
bridge connecting the ancient world with the modern -- in 1818
he was alternately delighted and offended at the book's liveli-
ness, fancy, and learning, its obscenity, lack of feeling, and
bitter and skilful irony (Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle, I,
143-45). During the next decade he sometimes alluded to spe-
cial features of The Decline and quoted it or the Autobiography
on occasional points (ibid. , I, 166, 251; Essays, V, 90, 95;
Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, XVI, 334; Love Letters of Carlyle,
I, 365; Essays, I, 320, 350). But a still more revealing com-
mentary on his evaluation of Gibbon is found in his correspon-
dence with two younger minds that he was helping to form. That
is, in at least a dozen letters written between summer, 1822,
and spring, 1824, he attempted to interest his brother John and
Miss Welsh in the study of Gibbon (Early Letters of Thomas
Carlyle, II, 88-89, 238-39; Love Letters of CarlyTe, I, 89, 105,
144, 177, 186-87, 197, 215, 233, 300, 335). In those letters
he said that Gibbon, though infidel and rather heartless, was
worth reading as a historian, and on other counts as well (Love
Letters of Carlyle, I, 89); that The Decline was a rich and vari-
ous feast and Gibbon the most splendid and trenchant person
whom Miss Welsh had yet read (ibid. , 144); that though Gibbon
had a coarse and vulgar heart and was trenchantly unfair to
Christians, he had fine logic and imagination and irony, was
(Carlyle repeated) a bridge connecting the antique and modern
ages, was unforgettable, and made an epoch in the history of
one's mind (ibid. , I, 186-87); that he contained much entertain-
ment as well as instruction, and that the volume that dealt with
Mahomet was splendidly written (ibid. , I, 197); and that Gib-
bon was the strongest-minded of all historians (Early Letters
of Thomas Carlyle, II, 238-39). Carlyle himself eventually
owned the first half of The Decline (a 12-volume, Dublin, 1781,
edition: Sotheby Catalogue, Item 62) and the two-volume Mem-
oirs, edited by Lord Sheffield (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th
ed. , Item 114).
125. At this place^Carlyle crossed out a sentence: "The reapers
of my native Annandale point their shocks toward that mountain
. . . and scan it with deepest medijlajtion every doubtful morn-
ing. " On the word Criffel, the Norton Typescript gives a foot-
note: "A high hill, 8 or 9 miles from Dumfries. (A. C. )"
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
117
Carlyle's personal acquaintance with his fellow countryman
Allan Cunningham (1784-1842) began during his first visit to
London in 1824. The older man's Annandale accent, honesty,
simplicity, modesty, manliness, good humor, sympathy, and
what Carlyle believed a singularly wild and original genius
strongly attracted the younger man, and the two Scots quickly
became friends (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 378; Conway, pp.
194-95; Early Letters of Thomas~C~arlyleJ II, 289; Froude, I,
239). Cunningham presented to Carlyle an inscribed copy (2nd
ed. , 1822) of Sir Marmaduke Maxwell (Sotheby Catalogue. , Item
108). And in January, 1826, Carlyle found in his Traditional
Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry (London, 1822, 2
vols.
) much kind fancy, a soft glowing exuberance, and traces
of a genius perhaps capable of higher developments (German
Romance, I, 267, footnote).
126. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) had translated three
passages from Goethe's Faust I (in Posthumous Poems, London,
Hunt, 1824, pp. 393-415). His "May-day Night, " here alluded
to, was published in the Liberal, No. I (1822), 121-37. And in
the fall of 1822, in connection with the Liberal, Carlyle showed
his awareness that Shelley was a man and writer of serious pur-
pose (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 95-6) Yet of Shelley's works
he mentioned by name only "May-day Night, " fromGoethe; this
he thought contained worth (Essays, II, 366-67). Though his
Allusions to Shelley were few, he seems habitually to have con-
sidered the poet a pallid, tuneless, hysterical person -- a piti-
ful example of sensitivity and aspiration wasted at tasks that
would require a more robust nature (Essays, III, 31; Reminis-
cences, II, 292-93).
127. To the word Horse --stairs, in the Norton Typescript, oc-
curs the following footnote by Alexander Carlyle: "Wrong trans-
lation of Rosstrappe (Dr Schlapp) -- horse steps? horse foot-
prints? (A. C. ). " Possibly, in connection with this German
word, Alexander Carlyle had consulted Dr. Otto Schlapp, a Ger-
man scholar.
128. Johann Karl August Musaus (1735-1787), "Der Schatzgraber, "
Volksmahrchen der Deutschen (5 vols. , Gotha, 1782-17865. The
passage from Altvater Martin, and MusSus' footnote to it (quoted
in Carlyle's next footnote), come near the beginning of "Der
Schatzgraber. " Though Carlyle may have known something of
Musaus and his Volksmahrchen before 1823, the spring of that
year was the time during which he and Miss Welsh made some
plans for him to select, and for her to translate, a volume of the
stories; and that spring and summer was the time of his earliest
recorded comments --all favorable -- upon Musaus' writings (Love
Letters of Carlyle, I, 215, 223, 229). On July 1, 1823, in the first
of his two general characterizations, Carlyle said that though
Musaus had little if any real genius, he was an honest gentleman,
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? 118
EDITOR'S NOTES
and that he had a true vein of shrewd sense, some considerable
knowledge, a fine little clever imagination, good nature, and abun-
dant wit and humor -- such as they were, Of the stories, Carlyle
at that time liked best Libussa; and he mentioned also as of interest
Die Bucher der Chronika, Rolands Knappen, Legenden von Riibezahl,
Dergeraubte Schleyer, and Melechsala (ibid. , I, 231). Between
July, 1823, and mid-August, 1824, he four times attempted to
forward Miss Welsh in the task of translating what he considered
worthy tales (ibid. , I, 262, 271-72, 388, 396). In November
and early December, 1825, after deciding to include some stor-
ies from Musaus for the collection of German Romance that he
himself had by that time undertaken to prepare, Carlyle trans-
lated Stumme Liebe, Libussa, and Melechsala, and at least
considered translating Der Schatzgraber (ibid. , II, 188, 194,
200; Early Letters of Carlyle, II, 334-35; German Romance,
I, 19-204). And by December 24, 1825, in his second and last
general characterization of the author, Carlyle said that Musaus,
though often tasteless, was never dull; that he treated the earn-
est traits of imagination in his materials with a kind sceptical
derision; that the Volksmahrchen contained a wide field of al-
lusion, interesting description, shrewd sarcastic speculation,
and gay and fanciful pleasantry; that the tales ranged from comic
humor to drollery; and that, though smooth and glittering, they
were cold, with the beauty of statues rather than of living forms
(German Romance, I, 14, 18). And after an allusion to Musaus
in 1828 again implying some of the limitations just noted above
(Essays, I, 284 ), Carlyle in 1831 was to echo Stumme Liebe three
times (Sartor, pp. 6 and note, 169 and note, 235 and note).
129. Concerning Busching, see Note 118.
130. Here Carlyle wrote, and then crossed out, the words
"under the title of Rip van Winkle. " This story by Washington
Irving (1783-1859) was part of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey
Crayon, 7 numbers, 1819-1820. Washington Irving was one of
the very few American writers in whom Carlyle had any interest
until after the meeting with Emerson in 1833. As early as June,
1822, he considered Bracebridge Hall (London and New York,
1822, 2 vols. ) a very good book (Early Letters of Thomas Car-
lyle, II, 89); and he characterized the author of it as a smooth,
polished, clever, amiable man, who would be more excellent
as an acquaintance than as an intimate friend (Love Letters of
Carlyle , I, 68). Notwithstanding that reservation in 1822, Car-
lyle, after hearing a rumor in November, 1823, that Irving was
dead, classed him among the English prose writers and mentioned
an earlier hope for friendship between Irving and himself (Early
Letters of Thomas Carlyle, II, 241).
131. This "Der Ziegenhirt, " which Carlyle translated well
from Busching's Volks-sagen, Mahrchen und Legenden, pp. 327-
31, is Item 4 (misnumbered Item 5) of Section 69, entitled "Der
Kyffhau s e r. "
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
119
132. This "Der Bergmann und der Kaiser" is the third tale of
the sixth item ("Der verzauberte Kaiser") of Section 69 ("Der
Kyffhauser") in Busching's Volks-sagen, Mahrchen und Legen-
den, pp. 336-39.
133. Belief in a legendary plant able to burst treasure-hiding
rocks and to open doors was common among many Indogermanic
peoples. Pliny mentioned an herb reputedly used by woodpeck-
ers to remove wedges driven in hollow trees to bar entrance to
their nests. Springwurzel was mentioned in medieval bestiaries
and in writings on magic. And in collections of German popular
tales, it was sometimes confused with Wunschelrute. See Hans
BSchtold-Staubli, ed. , Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglau-
bens (Berlin und Leipzig, 1936-1937), Bd. VIII, Columns 314-
19 (article by Dr. Heinrich Marzell).
134. German belief in Wunschelrute, which is related to vari-
ous Indogermanic magic rods and branches, is traceable to pre-
Christian times. It reached a high point in the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries in connection with miners, well-diggers, and
treasure-diggers, and eventually became associated with the in-
fluence of the Devil. It was sometimes used to discover lost
property, wrongdoers, and even unfaithful wives (See Bachtold-
Staubli, ed. , Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, Bd.
IX, Columns 823-39: article by Dr. Ludwig Herold). Wunschel-
rute recalls the waterwitch (usually male) and his forked stick
(frequently from a peach tree), still known in many American
communities.
135. Named for the English inventor, Joseph Bramah (1749-
1814), whose patent dates from 1784.
136. In the manuscript, the last nine lines of this footnote -- be-
ginning with the words "tree; the woodpecker will think it is
fire"--are written on a small piece of paper and attached at the
foot of the large sheet. From between the last two sentences in
Carlyle's translation, one sentence of Musaus's account has
dropped out.
The French work here mentioned, Causes celebres, curieuses
et interessantes de toutes les cours souveraines du royaume de-
puis 1773 jusqu'en 1780, was compiled by Nicolas Toussaint L,e
Moyne des Essarts (1744-1810) and Francois Richer (1718-1790),
Paris, 1773-1784. A new series appeared 1775-1789. Presum-
ably Carlyle had in mind Le Moyne des Essarts, who also pro-
duced a book on the French prisons, a book on Robespierre and
other revolutionary figures, and a French literary bibliographical
dictionary.
For Carlyle's later (March, 1832) strawman Professor Gott-
fried Sauerteig and his Aesthetische Springwurzeln, see Essays,
III, 49-53. That such personages as Carlyle's Sauerteig and
Teufelsdrockh may owe something to Lockhart's hypothetical per-
sonages such as Sterns tare has been suggested (See Macbeth, p. 151).
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? 120
EDITOR'S NOTES
137. Busching's word here is Zachen (Volks-sagen, p. 337).
138. BUsching made a new paragraph at this point (Volks-
sagen, p. 338).
139. The "well-known Geographer" was Anton Friedrich
Busching (1724-1793). Part of his Erdbeschreibung, 1754-
1792, had been translated into English by 1762.
140. This chapter and the next one are to a considerable ex-
tent traceable, in a somewhat altered form, as an essay. Early
in 1831, in order to convert part of the manuscript History into
a form that would be readily salable, Carlyle rapidly reworked
this Chapter IV (along with Chapter V) to make the review ar-
ticle entitled "The Nibelungen Lied. " The task was not a dif-
ficult one. Since Chapter IV had dealt with the background and
certain characters common to both the Heldenbuch and the Ni-
belungen Lied and had been written as preparation for the pre-
sentation of the Nibelungen Lied (in Chapter V), the only real
problem was that of reorganizing the material in the two chap-
ters to give it a central focus on the Nibelungen Lied. In the
adaptation, two-thirds of Chapter IV was used at the beginning
of the essay; the other third of the chapter was utilized near the
end of the essay. That is, pp. 46-47 of this History became,
by certain minor changes and additions, Essays, II, 216-20;
pp. 48-51 of History became, chiefly by changing the sequence
of paragraphs, Essays, II, 266-67, 265, 267-70; and pp. 51 60
of the History became, by very slight changes, Essays, II, 221-
33. Thus the material in Chapter IV constituted between a third
and half of the long essay. And, as will be indicated later, the
material in Chapter V seems to have constituted most of the
rest (see Note 176).
141. Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698-1783), who with Johann Jakob
Breitinger (1701-1776) published Fabeln aus den Zeiten der
Minnesinger, 1757. Carlyle again near the end of this History
alluded to the work of these men.
142. This evaluation of the revival of interest in medievalism
is of a piece with a number of other passages in this History
(see Note 73). The manuscript wording, "has produced and is
producing the most remarkable results, " suggests somewhat
more enthusiasm than the printed versions show.
143. Christoph Heinrich Muller (or Mueller or Myller, 1740-
1807), Samlung deutscher Gedichte aus dem zwolften, dreizehn-
ten, und vierzehnten Jahrhundert, 1783-1784, 2 Bde. The British
Museum has Th. 1 and 2 of a Berlin, 1784-1785 edition, ap-
parently once owned by Ludwig Tieck ; this copy is said to con-
tain copious notes by Tieck of various readings from old manu-
scripts .
144. Johannes von Muller (1752-1809), Der Geschichten
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
121
Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, Leipzig, 1786-1808, 6
vols. , had been known to Carlyle at least since the fall of 1822
(Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 89; London Magazine, X, 261; Two
Note Books, p. 76). By early February, 1824, though he praised
Mliller's histories for their quantity of information, their lucid-
ity of organization, and their unexampled authenticity, he never-
theless ranked them below Schiller's historical writings (London
Magazine, X, 18). And by November 26, 1827, he alluded to
Mliller's Vier und zwanzig Biicher allgemeiner Geschichten, be -
sonders der Europaischen Menschheit, Tubingen, 1810, 3 Bde. ,
for its treatment of all systems of Faith as changeable modes of
representation (Essays, I, 143-44).
145. August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767-1845). Deutsches Museum
was a monthly edited by Friedrich Schlegel at Vienna, 1812-1813
(Bde. I-IV). During the year 1812, A^ W. Schlegel published in
it four articles dealing with The Nibelungen Lied.
At least since the spring of 1823 Carlyle had known some
writings by one or both of the Schlegel brothers (Two Note Books,
p. 42). Then, as on several other occasions, he failed to in-
dicate whether he had in mind the older brother or Karl Wil-
helm Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829); and he also failed some-
times to indicate what particular work he meant. Though in
1823-1824 he did not entirely approve of A. W. Schlegel's
criticisms of Schiller (London Magazine, VIII, 398; X, 162), in
1826-1827 he believed both brothers were significant German
critics (German Romance, I, 260-62; Two Note Books, p. 104;
Essays, I, 53, 69-70). Since May, 1824, he had known Fried-
rich Schlegel's "Uber Goethes Meister, " which had first ap-
peared in the Athenaeum of 1798 and later had been republished
in the brothers' joint publication Charakteristiken und Kritiken,
Konigsberg, 1801 (Meister, I, 7). In the fall of 1827 he praised
the whole volume of Charakteristiken und Kritiken for its depth,
clarity, and fidelity (Essays, I, 61). And as late as May, 1828,
he stated his intention to translate "Uber Goethes Meister, " of
which he had then seen the revised version in Vol. X of Fried-
rich Schlegel's Sammtliche Werke, Wien, 1822-1825, 10 vols.
(Essays, I, 230-31). Shortly earlier he had confused the two
brothers by assigning to the older brother a passage from Fried-
rich's work -- published at Vienna, 1815, in two volumes -- Vor-
lesungen uber die Geschichte der alten und neuen Literatur, 1812
(Essays, I, 80; the confusion was pointed out in Leopold, Die
Religiose Wurzel, p. 59, note 2). Notwithstanding what to Car-
lyle seemed religious bewilderment on Friedrich's part, he in-
sisted upon the general vigor of Friedrich's intellect and charac-
ter (Essays, I, 144). He valued August Wilhelm's estimate of
the importance of the critical philosophy (Essays, I, 77), and at
least once called him a great literary critic (Essays, I, 196,
read with Revue Germanique, 1912, p. 41). When in summer,
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? 122
EDITOR'S NOTES
1828, he said that the brothers' Lectures showed them the most
ingenious and popular commentators of C. G. Heyne's school
of criticism, he was probably alluding to A. W. Schlegel's Uber
dramatische Kunst und Literatur, Heidelberg, 1809- 1811 (3
vols. ), and to Friedrich's Vorlesungen iiber die Geschichte der
alten und neuen Literatur (Essays, I, 351). Though the present
History may in several places echo thoughts in the latter work,
the only specifically named work written by Friedrich Schlegel
seems to be another set of lectures: Vorlesungen uber die neuere
Geschichte (see Note 54).
146. Das Lied der Nibelungen. Aus dem altdeutschen Original
libersetzt von Joseph von Hinsberg. Munchen, 1812.
147. August Zeune (1778-1853), Das Nibelungenlied ins neu-
deutsche ubertragen, Berlin, 1814; 2nd ed. , 1826.
148. Bernhard Joseph Docen (1782-1828), Miscellaneen zur
Geschichte der teutschen Literatur, Munchen, 1807-1809, 2 Bde.
Apparently an enlarged edition appeared two years later. Car-
lyle alluded to Miscellaneen three times in this History. In
January, 1830, he mentioned having seen, and read a few pages
of, some unidentified History of German Poetry, written by
Docen and Von der Hagen (Early Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle,
p. 165).
149. The word in the manuscript may be a sixty-seven with an
undotted i and an uncrossed x.
150. Das Heldenbuch was first printed in 1477 at Augsburg by
Giinther Zainer.
151. At least since the fall of 1827 Carlyle had known and valued
the Nibelungen Lied (Essays, I, 28-29). In a letter written on
May 1, 1830, as he worked through the poem for this History,
he professed "I like jitjmuch" (Letters of Carlyle, p.
? 112
EDITOR'S NOTES
109. "Irish Melodist" suggests Thomas Moore (1779-1852),
whose Irish Melodies appeared in 1806. Carlyle had known his
La 11a Rookh and Fudge Family since 1818 (Early Letters of
Thomas Carlyle, I, 153-54; II, 240) and his Epicurean since
1828 (Speck, p. 4).
110. Jeronymo Osorio (1506-1580).
111. In August, 1826, Carlyle considered Per Tod Abels by
Salomon Gessner (1730-1788) a faint and washy idyll (German
Romance, I, 3).
112. In Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, which Carlyle
had translated between June, 1823, and May, 1824. See also
Note 16.
113. For more than a decade Carlyle had admired the style
and valued the sense of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).
As a result of almost his earliest readings in German (summer,
1819) Carlyle concluded that Lessing had spirit in him (Fort-
nightly, CI, 634). And two years later he suggested Lessing
(among others) for Miss Welsh to read as she too began her
German studies (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 6). From 1826
on, he considered Lessing an earnest and even noble sceptic
who deserved to believe (German Romance, II, 126, note; Es-
says , I, 18; I, 47-48). Though Lessing's ruling bias, accord-
ing to Carlyle, was logic, he also had some humor (Essays, I,
18); and he was wise (Essays, I, 31), a true man, though a tart
one (Letters of Carlyle, p. 135). Lessing's literary and art
criticism and his philosophic or religious scepticism were of
higher mood (said Carlyle in 1827) than had yet in their times
been heard in Europe; for it was the Hamburgische Dramatur-
gic that had first exploded the pretensions of the French theater,
had made Shakespeare known, and had prepared the way for the
brighter era of literature in Germany; his Laokoon had thrown
deep rays of light into the philosophy of art; and his misleading-
ly entitled Dialogues on Freemasons (Ernst und Falk: Gesprache
fur Freimaurer, 1778) had contained teachings that would still
be of value to many readers, even as the second quarter of the
new century began (Essays, I, 48). Lessing's dramatic excel-
lence seemed notable too. At least his Minna and his Emilia,
Carlyle said, ranked close to the plays of Schiller and Goethe
(Essays, I, 48, 359). And similarly worthy was his literary
style. In 1827 Carlyle quoted an utterance by Lessing on style,
and approved it (Essays, I, 19); and again, in 1828, he consid-
ered Lessing's style more expressive than that of any of Less-
ing's predecessors (ibid. , I, 213). While the present History
was in composition (May, 1830) his letter to Goethe suggested
the role he meant to assign to Lessing in this literary history.
That is, in 1830 (somewhat as in 1826) he considered Lessing a
figure standing between two periods -- an earnest sceptic Strug-
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
113
gling to work his way into the region of spiritual truth and some-
times achieving brave glimpses of that promised land (Goethe
Correspondence, p. 190). In the present History itself Carlyle
four times specifically mentioned Lessing (referring to him
twice as the source of valuable materials). Furthermore, the
volume ends on an analogy between the stages of a nation's cul-
tural development and the stages of an individual's cultural de-
velopment. This analogy, which is frequently involved in the
concept of historical development in this volume, bears some
resemblance to an important feature of Lessing's Die Erziehung
des Menschengeschlechts, 1780 (see, for example, Section 93 of
Erziehung). The mere analogy itself, however, need not be
specifically connected with Lessing or any other German, for
it is old and widespread (for example, Samuel Johnson's "Pre-
face" to his edition of Shakespeare).
114. Carlyle's interest in Michel Eyquem Montaigne (1533-
1592) seems to have belonged to the early years. In 1818 he
quoted Montaigne on religious doubt (Early Letters of Thomas
Carlyle, I, 162). By March 29, 1820, in an article written on
Montaigne for Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, he condemned the con-
tents of Journal du Voyage and attempted (with some success)
to characterize the Essais and their author (Essays, V, 66-69).
Nevertheless a notebook entry three years later indicates that
even by late 1823 he had read only one volume of Essais (Two
Note Books, p. 53). Presumably the one volume in question
was Vol. II (of an 1818 edition), which is listed among the books
at Carlyle's Chelsea House (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th ed. ,
Item 47).
115. The numerals in square brackets [l-22]in the margins are
mine, added to facilitate reference in this Note. A comparison
of Carlyle's specimens with the collection in Lessings s'ammt-
liche Schriften (Herausgegeben von Karl Lachmann. Dritte,
auf's neue durchgesehene und vermehrte Auflage, besorgt durch
Franz Muncker. Leipzig, Goschen, 1900), XV, 466-75, 478-80,
shows the following facts. Of the twenty-two proverbs here
quoted by Carlyle, all but one are assigned to their sources by
Lessing. That is, seventeen of them (the bracketed Numbers
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22)
are assigned by Lessing to Christoph Lehmann's Florilegium
Politicum Auctum (apparently printed 1630; again," Lubeck, 1639;
Frankfurt, 1662). Three of the twenty-two (Numbers 2, 9, 12)
are assigned by Lessing to Sebastian Franck's Sprichworter und
Apophtegmen [1545J. One of the twenty-two, Number 16, Lessing
assigns to a work called Burgerlust, "zw. Th. 1664. 12. " And
that same p. 12 of the Second Part of Burgerlust is also listed
by Lessing as the source of a proverb that Carlyle copied in
German (between Numbers 19 and 20) but crossed off without
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? 114
EDITOR'S NOTES
making an English translation of it:
Sieh auf Dich und auf die Deinen:
Darnach so schilt mich und die Meinen.
Of the total twenty-two pr-overbs, the only one that Lessing
does not assign to one of the three sources mentioned above is
Number 19; for it, he assigns no source at all. In text, Car-
lyle's proverbs show some minor differences from those in the
text of Lessing: slight differences in punctuation (in Numbers
7, 10, 16, and 21); slight differences in spelling (in Numbers
5, 8, 10, 17 ; and in Number 13, Carlyle reads gebracht in-
stead of bracht); and one omission (in Number 4, Carlyle
omits a second couplet).
116. In December, 1826, Carlyle had written the Latin ver-
sion in his notebook (Two Note Books, p. 93). His interest in
proverbs, from various sources, was thus not new in 1830
(for example, Two Note Books, pp. 85, 97-99, 102, 121, 129,
132, 146). Systematic examination of his writings would re-
veal much folklore.
117. Carlyle had entered this Scottish proverb in his notebook
as early as the fall of 1825 (Two Note Books, p. 66).
118. Carlyle used at least two works by Johann Gustav Gott-
lieb Bu? sching (1783-1829) in this History of German Literature:
Bu? sching, Volks-Sagen, Ma? hrchen und Legenden, Leipzig, 1812
(Carlyle apparently owned an 1820 edition of it: see Carlyle's
House Catalogue, 7th ed. , Item 126), and Bu? sching and Von der
Hagen, Literarischer Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen
Poesie, von der a? ltesten Zeit bis in das sechzehnte Jahrhundert
Berlin, 1812. He mentioned, but presumably did not use, Busch-
ing and Von der Hagen, Deutsche Gedichte des Mittelalters, Ber-
lin, 1808-1825, 2 Bde. , which contained Der Heldenbuch.
Eventually he acquired Busching's three-volume edition of Hans
Sachs ernstliche Trauerspiele, Nu? rnberg, 1816 (Carlyle's
House Catalogue, 1896, p. 86) and a book described as Busching's
Lieben im Mittelalter, 1817 (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th ed. ,
Item 131)7 The fact that he autographed the latter book in 1849
may indicate very little about the date of acquisition.
Carlyle's regard for Friedrich Heinrich vonder Hagen
(1780-1856), Busching's collaborator, was high, as will be
seen elsewhere in this History. In addition to the collaborative
work by Von der Hagen and Bu? sching just mentioned, Carlyle
also used in this History several works by Von der Hagen alone:
his Die Nibelungen; ihre Bedeutung fu? r die Gegenwart und fu? r
immer (Breslau, 1819), his edition Der Nibelungen Lied (Dritte
berichtigte, mit Einleitung und Wo? rterbuch vermehrte Auflage.
Breslau, 1820), his translation Der Nibelungen Lied (erneuert
und erkla? rt. Zweite Ausgabe. Franckfurt am Main, 1824), and
possibly his translation Wilkina- und Niflunga - Saga, oder Die-
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? EDITOR'S NOTES 115
trichvon Bern und die Nibelungen (in Nordische Heldenromane,
1814, Bde. I--III). Certain passages, separately noted, in the
present History may be especially indebted to the "Einleitung"
of Vonder Hagen's 18Z0 edition of Per Nibelungen Lied. And
in the essay "The Nibelungen Lied, which Carlyle was to
make perhaps almost entirely from two chapters of the
present History early in 1831 and to publish in the 29th issue
of the We stminster Review, he was frequently to refer to Die
Nibelungen, ihre Bedeutung (Essays, II, 227, 233 footnote, 255
footnote, 260 footnote, 265-66 footnote, 267, 270; see also II,
220).
119. The allusion may be to Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm (1785-
1863) and Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786-1859), Kinder- und Haus-
marchen, 1812-1814, 2 vols. , or possibly to their Deutsche
Sagen, Berlin, 1816-1818, 2 vols'. Later in this History, Car-
lyle alluded to some unspecified work by them bearing upon the
Nibelungen Lied. Though in January, 1830, he had feared their
den altdeutschen Meistergesang, Gottingen, 1811, might
prove shallow (Early Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle, p. 165),
he eventually acquired the work (Sotheby Catalogue, Item 105).
120. British Museum's earliest Hickathrift chapbook -- A Pleas-
ant and Delightful History of Thomas Hickathrift, [Pt. Ip- was
printed at Whitehaven, [1780 *H The History of Thomas Hicka-
thrift, Pt. II, was printed at London presumably in the same
year.
121. Middle High German Sifrit, for Siegfried.
122. According to Morgan's Bibliography (p. 350),William
Beckford's Popular Tales of the Germans (London, Murray,
1791, 2 vols. , translated from J. C. A. Musaus's Volks-
mahrchen der Deutschen) contained "Elfin-freaks, or the . . .
legends of Number-Nip. Henry Crabb Robinson had first
told Carlyle, in the summer of 1824, about this translation
(Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 396).
123. Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1811), Beschreibung
einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, Berlin und
Stettin, 1783-1796, 12 vols. In spring, 1826, and againby
January 20, 1831, Carlyle alluded disparagingly to Nicolai
(Meister, I, 22 footnote, and Essays, II, 360).
124. Concerning St. George, see Edward Gibbon (1737-1794),
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Lon-
don, TTf6~:T7887~6~ voTsTJT Chapter XXIII (near the end of the
chapter). Though Carlyle attempted Gibbon's Decline in 1809"
1810 (Masson, p. 231), he had still read only one volume by
November, 1817, when he moved to Kirkcaldy (Early Letters
of Thomas Carlyle, I, 127). There, among Edward Irving's
books, by mid-February, 1818, occurred his epoch-marking
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? 116
EDITOR'S NOTES
experience with Gibbon. Though he read the 12-volume set at
the rate of a volume a day, and felt qualified admiration for its
winged sarcasms, he continued for half a century to believe it,
of all books, the most impressive on his then state of mind
(Reminiscences, II, 28). From this reading he dated the ex-
tirpation, from his mind, of the last remnants of orthodox be-
lief in miracles (Masson, pp. 263-64; see also Allingham, p.
232). Though he then, and thereafter, considered The Decline
a work of immense research and magnificent execution -- a
bridge connecting the ancient world with the modern -- in 1818
he was alternately delighted and offended at the book's liveli-
ness, fancy, and learning, its obscenity, lack of feeling, and
bitter and skilful irony (Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle, I,
143-45). During the next decade he sometimes alluded to spe-
cial features of The Decline and quoted it or the Autobiography
on occasional points (ibid. , I, 166, 251; Essays, V, 90, 95;
Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, XVI, 334; Love Letters of Carlyle,
I, 365; Essays, I, 320, 350). But a still more revealing com-
mentary on his evaluation of Gibbon is found in his correspon-
dence with two younger minds that he was helping to form. That
is, in at least a dozen letters written between summer, 1822,
and spring, 1824, he attempted to interest his brother John and
Miss Welsh in the study of Gibbon (Early Letters of Thomas
Carlyle, II, 88-89, 238-39; Love Letters of CarlyTe, I, 89, 105,
144, 177, 186-87, 197, 215, 233, 300, 335). In those letters
he said that Gibbon, though infidel and rather heartless, was
worth reading as a historian, and on other counts as well (Love
Letters of Carlyle, I, 89); that The Decline was a rich and vari-
ous feast and Gibbon the most splendid and trenchant person
whom Miss Welsh had yet read (ibid. , 144); that though Gibbon
had a coarse and vulgar heart and was trenchantly unfair to
Christians, he had fine logic and imagination and irony, was
(Carlyle repeated) a bridge connecting the antique and modern
ages, was unforgettable, and made an epoch in the history of
one's mind (ibid. , I, 186-87); that he contained much entertain-
ment as well as instruction, and that the volume that dealt with
Mahomet was splendidly written (ibid. , I, 197); and that Gib-
bon was the strongest-minded of all historians (Early Letters
of Thomas Carlyle, II, 238-39). Carlyle himself eventually
owned the first half of The Decline (a 12-volume, Dublin, 1781,
edition: Sotheby Catalogue, Item 62) and the two-volume Mem-
oirs, edited by Lord Sheffield (Carlyle's House Catalogue, 7th
ed. , Item 114).
125. At this place^Carlyle crossed out a sentence: "The reapers
of my native Annandale point their shocks toward that mountain
. . . and scan it with deepest medijlajtion every doubtful morn-
ing. " On the word Criffel, the Norton Typescript gives a foot-
note: "A high hill, 8 or 9 miles from Dumfries. (A. C. )"
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
117
Carlyle's personal acquaintance with his fellow countryman
Allan Cunningham (1784-1842) began during his first visit to
London in 1824. The older man's Annandale accent, honesty,
simplicity, modesty, manliness, good humor, sympathy, and
what Carlyle believed a singularly wild and original genius
strongly attracted the younger man, and the two Scots quickly
became friends (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 378; Conway, pp.
194-95; Early Letters of Thomas~C~arlyleJ II, 289; Froude, I,
239). Cunningham presented to Carlyle an inscribed copy (2nd
ed. , 1822) of Sir Marmaduke Maxwell (Sotheby Catalogue. , Item
108). And in January, 1826, Carlyle found in his Traditional
Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry (London, 1822, 2
vols.
) much kind fancy, a soft glowing exuberance, and traces
of a genius perhaps capable of higher developments (German
Romance, I, 267, footnote).
126. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) had translated three
passages from Goethe's Faust I (in Posthumous Poems, London,
Hunt, 1824, pp. 393-415). His "May-day Night, " here alluded
to, was published in the Liberal, No. I (1822), 121-37. And in
the fall of 1822, in connection with the Liberal, Carlyle showed
his awareness that Shelley was a man and writer of serious pur-
pose (Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 95-6) Yet of Shelley's works
he mentioned by name only "May-day Night, " fromGoethe; this
he thought contained worth (Essays, II, 366-67). Though his
Allusions to Shelley were few, he seems habitually to have con-
sidered the poet a pallid, tuneless, hysterical person -- a piti-
ful example of sensitivity and aspiration wasted at tasks that
would require a more robust nature (Essays, III, 31; Reminis-
cences, II, 292-93).
127. To the word Horse --stairs, in the Norton Typescript, oc-
curs the following footnote by Alexander Carlyle: "Wrong trans-
lation of Rosstrappe (Dr Schlapp) -- horse steps? horse foot-
prints? (A. C. ). " Possibly, in connection with this German
word, Alexander Carlyle had consulted Dr. Otto Schlapp, a Ger-
man scholar.
128. Johann Karl August Musaus (1735-1787), "Der Schatzgraber, "
Volksmahrchen der Deutschen (5 vols. , Gotha, 1782-17865. The
passage from Altvater Martin, and MusSus' footnote to it (quoted
in Carlyle's next footnote), come near the beginning of "Der
Schatzgraber. " Though Carlyle may have known something of
Musaus and his Volksmahrchen before 1823, the spring of that
year was the time during which he and Miss Welsh made some
plans for him to select, and for her to translate, a volume of the
stories; and that spring and summer was the time of his earliest
recorded comments --all favorable -- upon Musaus' writings (Love
Letters of Carlyle, I, 215, 223, 229). On July 1, 1823, in the first
of his two general characterizations, Carlyle said that though
Musaus had little if any real genius, he was an honest gentleman,
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? 118
EDITOR'S NOTES
and that he had a true vein of shrewd sense, some considerable
knowledge, a fine little clever imagination, good nature, and abun-
dant wit and humor -- such as they were, Of the stories, Carlyle
at that time liked best Libussa; and he mentioned also as of interest
Die Bucher der Chronika, Rolands Knappen, Legenden von Riibezahl,
Dergeraubte Schleyer, and Melechsala (ibid. , I, 231). Between
July, 1823, and mid-August, 1824, he four times attempted to
forward Miss Welsh in the task of translating what he considered
worthy tales (ibid. , I, 262, 271-72, 388, 396). In November
and early December, 1825, after deciding to include some stor-
ies from Musaus for the collection of German Romance that he
himself had by that time undertaken to prepare, Carlyle trans-
lated Stumme Liebe, Libussa, and Melechsala, and at least
considered translating Der Schatzgraber (ibid. , II, 188, 194,
200; Early Letters of Carlyle, II, 334-35; German Romance,
I, 19-204). And by December 24, 1825, in his second and last
general characterization of the author, Carlyle said that Musaus,
though often tasteless, was never dull; that he treated the earn-
est traits of imagination in his materials with a kind sceptical
derision; that the Volksmahrchen contained a wide field of al-
lusion, interesting description, shrewd sarcastic speculation,
and gay and fanciful pleasantry; that the tales ranged from comic
humor to drollery; and that, though smooth and glittering, they
were cold, with the beauty of statues rather than of living forms
(German Romance, I, 14, 18). And after an allusion to Musaus
in 1828 again implying some of the limitations just noted above
(Essays, I, 284 ), Carlyle in 1831 was to echo Stumme Liebe three
times (Sartor, pp. 6 and note, 169 and note, 235 and note).
129. Concerning Busching, see Note 118.
130. Here Carlyle wrote, and then crossed out, the words
"under the title of Rip van Winkle. " This story by Washington
Irving (1783-1859) was part of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey
Crayon, 7 numbers, 1819-1820. Washington Irving was one of
the very few American writers in whom Carlyle had any interest
until after the meeting with Emerson in 1833. As early as June,
1822, he considered Bracebridge Hall (London and New York,
1822, 2 vols. ) a very good book (Early Letters of Thomas Car-
lyle, II, 89); and he characterized the author of it as a smooth,
polished, clever, amiable man, who would be more excellent
as an acquaintance than as an intimate friend (Love Letters of
Carlyle , I, 68). Notwithstanding that reservation in 1822, Car-
lyle, after hearing a rumor in November, 1823, that Irving was
dead, classed him among the English prose writers and mentioned
an earlier hope for friendship between Irving and himself (Early
Letters of Thomas Carlyle, II, 241).
131. This "Der Ziegenhirt, " which Carlyle translated well
from Busching's Volks-sagen, Mahrchen und Legenden, pp. 327-
31, is Item 4 (misnumbered Item 5) of Section 69, entitled "Der
Kyffhau s e r. "
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
119
132. This "Der Bergmann und der Kaiser" is the third tale of
the sixth item ("Der verzauberte Kaiser") of Section 69 ("Der
Kyffhauser") in Busching's Volks-sagen, Mahrchen und Legen-
den, pp. 336-39.
133. Belief in a legendary plant able to burst treasure-hiding
rocks and to open doors was common among many Indogermanic
peoples. Pliny mentioned an herb reputedly used by woodpeck-
ers to remove wedges driven in hollow trees to bar entrance to
their nests. Springwurzel was mentioned in medieval bestiaries
and in writings on magic. And in collections of German popular
tales, it was sometimes confused with Wunschelrute. See Hans
BSchtold-Staubli, ed. , Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglau-
bens (Berlin und Leipzig, 1936-1937), Bd. VIII, Columns 314-
19 (article by Dr. Heinrich Marzell).
134. German belief in Wunschelrute, which is related to vari-
ous Indogermanic magic rods and branches, is traceable to pre-
Christian times. It reached a high point in the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries in connection with miners, well-diggers, and
treasure-diggers, and eventually became associated with the in-
fluence of the Devil. It was sometimes used to discover lost
property, wrongdoers, and even unfaithful wives (See Bachtold-
Staubli, ed. , Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, Bd.
IX, Columns 823-39: article by Dr. Ludwig Herold). Wunschel-
rute recalls the waterwitch (usually male) and his forked stick
(frequently from a peach tree), still known in many American
communities.
135. Named for the English inventor, Joseph Bramah (1749-
1814), whose patent dates from 1784.
136. In the manuscript, the last nine lines of this footnote -- be-
ginning with the words "tree; the woodpecker will think it is
fire"--are written on a small piece of paper and attached at the
foot of the large sheet. From between the last two sentences in
Carlyle's translation, one sentence of Musaus's account has
dropped out.
The French work here mentioned, Causes celebres, curieuses
et interessantes de toutes les cours souveraines du royaume de-
puis 1773 jusqu'en 1780, was compiled by Nicolas Toussaint L,e
Moyne des Essarts (1744-1810) and Francois Richer (1718-1790),
Paris, 1773-1784. A new series appeared 1775-1789. Presum-
ably Carlyle had in mind Le Moyne des Essarts, who also pro-
duced a book on the French prisons, a book on Robespierre and
other revolutionary figures, and a French literary bibliographical
dictionary.
For Carlyle's later (March, 1832) strawman Professor Gott-
fried Sauerteig and his Aesthetische Springwurzeln, see Essays,
III, 49-53. That such personages as Carlyle's Sauerteig and
Teufelsdrockh may owe something to Lockhart's hypothetical per-
sonages such as Sterns tare has been suggested (See Macbeth, p. 151).
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? 120
EDITOR'S NOTES
137. Busching's word here is Zachen (Volks-sagen, p. 337).
138. BUsching made a new paragraph at this point (Volks-
sagen, p. 338).
139. The "well-known Geographer" was Anton Friedrich
Busching (1724-1793). Part of his Erdbeschreibung, 1754-
1792, had been translated into English by 1762.
140. This chapter and the next one are to a considerable ex-
tent traceable, in a somewhat altered form, as an essay. Early
in 1831, in order to convert part of the manuscript History into
a form that would be readily salable, Carlyle rapidly reworked
this Chapter IV (along with Chapter V) to make the review ar-
ticle entitled "The Nibelungen Lied. " The task was not a dif-
ficult one. Since Chapter IV had dealt with the background and
certain characters common to both the Heldenbuch and the Ni-
belungen Lied and had been written as preparation for the pre-
sentation of the Nibelungen Lied (in Chapter V), the only real
problem was that of reorganizing the material in the two chap-
ters to give it a central focus on the Nibelungen Lied. In the
adaptation, two-thirds of Chapter IV was used at the beginning
of the essay; the other third of the chapter was utilized near the
end of the essay. That is, pp. 46-47 of this History became,
by certain minor changes and additions, Essays, II, 216-20;
pp. 48-51 of History became, chiefly by changing the sequence
of paragraphs, Essays, II, 266-67, 265, 267-70; and pp. 51 60
of the History became, by very slight changes, Essays, II, 221-
33. Thus the material in Chapter IV constituted between a third
and half of the long essay. And, as will be indicated later, the
material in Chapter V seems to have constituted most of the
rest (see Note 176).
141. Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698-1783), who with Johann Jakob
Breitinger (1701-1776) published Fabeln aus den Zeiten der
Minnesinger, 1757. Carlyle again near the end of this History
alluded to the work of these men.
142. This evaluation of the revival of interest in medievalism
is of a piece with a number of other passages in this History
(see Note 73). The manuscript wording, "has produced and is
producing the most remarkable results, " suggests somewhat
more enthusiasm than the printed versions show.
143. Christoph Heinrich Muller (or Mueller or Myller, 1740-
1807), Samlung deutscher Gedichte aus dem zwolften, dreizehn-
ten, und vierzehnten Jahrhundert, 1783-1784, 2 Bde. The British
Museum has Th. 1 and 2 of a Berlin, 1784-1785 edition, ap-
parently once owned by Ludwig Tieck ; this copy is said to con-
tain copious notes by Tieck of various readings from old manu-
scripts .
144. Johannes von Muller (1752-1809), Der Geschichten
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? EDITOR'S NOTES
121
Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, Leipzig, 1786-1808, 6
vols. , had been known to Carlyle at least since the fall of 1822
(Love Letters of Carlyle, I, 89; London Magazine, X, 261; Two
Note Books, p. 76). By early February, 1824, though he praised
Mliller's histories for their quantity of information, their lucid-
ity of organization, and their unexampled authenticity, he never-
theless ranked them below Schiller's historical writings (London
Magazine, X, 18). And by November 26, 1827, he alluded to
Mliller's Vier und zwanzig Biicher allgemeiner Geschichten, be -
sonders der Europaischen Menschheit, Tubingen, 1810, 3 Bde. ,
for its treatment of all systems of Faith as changeable modes of
representation (Essays, I, 143-44).
145. August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767-1845). Deutsches Museum
was a monthly edited by Friedrich Schlegel at Vienna, 1812-1813
(Bde. I-IV). During the year 1812, A^ W. Schlegel published in
it four articles dealing with The Nibelungen Lied.
At least since the spring of 1823 Carlyle had known some
writings by one or both of the Schlegel brothers (Two Note Books,
p. 42). Then, as on several other occasions, he failed to in-
dicate whether he had in mind the older brother or Karl Wil-
helm Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829); and he also failed some-
times to indicate what particular work he meant. Though in
1823-1824 he did not entirely approve of A. W. Schlegel's
criticisms of Schiller (London Magazine, VIII, 398; X, 162), in
1826-1827 he believed both brothers were significant German
critics (German Romance, I, 260-62; Two Note Books, p. 104;
Essays, I, 53, 69-70). Since May, 1824, he had known Fried-
rich Schlegel's "Uber Goethes Meister, " which had first ap-
peared in the Athenaeum of 1798 and later had been republished
in the brothers' joint publication Charakteristiken und Kritiken,
Konigsberg, 1801 (Meister, I, 7). In the fall of 1827 he praised
the whole volume of Charakteristiken und Kritiken for its depth,
clarity, and fidelity (Essays, I, 61). And as late as May, 1828,
he stated his intention to translate "Uber Goethes Meister, " of
which he had then seen the revised version in Vol. X of Fried-
rich Schlegel's Sammtliche Werke, Wien, 1822-1825, 10 vols.
(Essays, I, 230-31). Shortly earlier he had confused the two
brothers by assigning to the older brother a passage from Fried-
rich's work -- published at Vienna, 1815, in two volumes -- Vor-
lesungen uber die Geschichte der alten und neuen Literatur, 1812
(Essays, I, 80; the confusion was pointed out in Leopold, Die
Religiose Wurzel, p. 59, note 2). Notwithstanding what to Car-
lyle seemed religious bewilderment on Friedrich's part, he in-
sisted upon the general vigor of Friedrich's intellect and charac-
ter (Essays, I, 144). He valued August Wilhelm's estimate of
the importance of the critical philosophy (Essays, I, 77), and at
least once called him a great literary critic (Essays, I, 196,
read with Revue Germanique, 1912, p. 41). When in summer,
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? 122
EDITOR'S NOTES
1828, he said that the brothers' Lectures showed them the most
ingenious and popular commentators of C. G. Heyne's school
of criticism, he was probably alluding to A. W. Schlegel's Uber
dramatische Kunst und Literatur, Heidelberg, 1809- 1811 (3
vols. ), and to Friedrich's Vorlesungen iiber die Geschichte der
alten und neuen Literatur (Essays, I, 351). Though the present
History may in several places echo thoughts in the latter work,
the only specifically named work written by Friedrich Schlegel
seems to be another set of lectures: Vorlesungen uber die neuere
Geschichte (see Note 54).
146. Das Lied der Nibelungen. Aus dem altdeutschen Original
libersetzt von Joseph von Hinsberg. Munchen, 1812.
147. August Zeune (1778-1853), Das Nibelungenlied ins neu-
deutsche ubertragen, Berlin, 1814; 2nd ed. , 1826.
148. Bernhard Joseph Docen (1782-1828), Miscellaneen zur
Geschichte der teutschen Literatur, Munchen, 1807-1809, 2 Bde.
Apparently an enlarged edition appeared two years later. Car-
lyle alluded to Miscellaneen three times in this History. In
January, 1830, he mentioned having seen, and read a few pages
of, some unidentified History of German Poetry, written by
Docen and Von der Hagen (Early Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle,
p. 165).
149. The word in the manuscript may be a sixty-seven with an
undotted i and an uncrossed x.
150. Das Heldenbuch was first printed in 1477 at Augsburg by
Giinther Zainer.
151. At least since the fall of 1827 Carlyle had known and valued
the Nibelungen Lied (Essays, I, 28-29). In a letter written on
May 1, 1830, as he worked through the poem for this History,
he professed "I like jitjmuch" (Letters of Carlyle, p.
