excellent writer; Frederick Schlegel, a poet full of originality. A great number of different talents cannot, perhaps, be united; but the view of the understanding ought to embrace every thing.

The new German philosophy is necessarily more favorable than any other to the extension of the mind; for, referring every thing to the focus of the soul, and considering the world itself as governed by laws, the type of which is in ourselves, it does not admit the prejudice which destines every man exclusively to such or such a branch of study. The idealists believe that an art, a science, or any other subject, cannot be understood without universal knowledge, and that from the smallest phenomenon up to the greatest, nothing can be wisely examined, or poetically depicted, without that elevation of mind which sees the whole, while it is describing the parts.

Montesquieu says, that wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things which differ, and the difference of things which are alike. If there could exist a theory which would teach a man how to become a wit, it would be that of the understanding as the Germans conceive it; there is none more favorable to ingenious approximations between external objects and the faculties of the mind; they are the different radii of the same centre. Most physical axioms correspond with moral truths; and universal philosophy, in a thousand ways, represents nature always the same, and always varying; reflected, at full length, in every one of her works, and giving the stamp of the universe to the blade of grass, as well as to the cedar.

This philosophy gives a singular attraction to all kinds of study. The discoveries which we make within ourselves are always interesting; but if it is true that they would enlighten us, on the mysteries even of a world created in our image, vhat curiosity do they not inspire! The conversation of a German philosopher, such as those I have named, calls to mind the dialogues of Plato; and when you question one of these men, upon any subject whatever, he throws so much light on it, that, in listening to him, you seem to think for the first time, if to think is, as Spinoza says, to identify one's self with Nature by intelligence, and to become one with her.

So many new ideas on literary and philosophical subjects nave, for some years past, been in circulation in Germany, that a stranger might very well take a man, who should only repeat these ideas, for a superior genius. It has sometimes happened to me, to give men, ordinary enough in other respects, credit for prodigious minds, only because they had become familiarized with the system of the idealists, the aurora of a new life. The faults for which the Germans are commonly reproached in conversation, slowness and pedantry, are remarked infinitely less in the disciples of the modern school; persons of the first rank, in Germany, have formed themselves, for the most part, according to good French manners; but now there is established among the philosophers and men of letters, a sort of education, also in good taste, although of quite another kind. True elegance is considered as inseparable from a poetical imagination, and love for the fine arts, and politeness, as united to knowledge, and to the appreciation of talents and natural qualities.

It cannot, however, be denied, that the new philosophical and literary systems have inspired their partisans with great contempt for those who do not understand them. The wit of the French always aims at humiliating by ridicule; its plan is to avoid the idea, in order to attack the person, and the substance, in order to laugh at the form. The Germans of the new school look upon ignorance and frivolity as diseases of prolonged infancy; they do not confine themselves to contests with strangers, but they attack each other with bitterness; and to hear them, one would suppose, that to possess a single additional degree, either of abstraction or of profundity, conferred a right to treat as vulgar and narrow-minded all those who would not or could not attain it.

When men's minds are irritated by obstacles, exaggeration is mixed with that philosophical revolution, which, in other respects, is so salutary. The Germans of the new school penetrate into the interior of the soul, with the torch of genius But when they are required to introduce their ideas into the minds of others, they are at a loss for the means, and begin to

affect contempt for their hearers, because they are ignorant, not of the truth itself, but of the means of imparting it. Contempt, except for vice, argues almost always a limited mind: for, with a greater share of understanding, we could make ourselves understood even by vulgar minds, or at least we might sincerely endeavor to do so.

The talent of methodical and clear expression is very rare in Germany it is not acquired by speculative studies. We must, thus to speak, place ourselves without our own thoughts, to judge of the form which should be given to them. Philosophy teaches the knowledge of man, rather than of men. Habits of society alone teach us the relation our minds bear to those of others. Sincere and serious philosophers are led, first by candor, and then by pride, to feel irritated against those who do not think or feel as they do. The Germans seek for truth conscientiously; but they have a very warm spirit of party in favor of the doctrine which they adopt; for, in the heart of man, every thing degenerates into passion.

But notwithstanding the diversity of opinions, which, in Germany, form schools in opposition to one another, they tend qually, for the most part, to develop activity of soul; so that here is no country where every man makes more advantage of himself, at least in regard to intellectual labors.

CHAPTER IX.

INFLUENCE OF THE NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY ON LITERATURE AND THE ARTS.

WHAT I have just said on the development of the mind, is also applicable to literature; yet it may be interesting to add some particular observations to these general reflections.

In those countries where it is supposed that all our ideas have their origin in external objects, it is natural to set a higher

value on the observance of graces or forms, the empire of which is placed without us; but where, on the other hand. men feel convinced of the immutable laws of moral existence, society has less power over each individual; men treat of every thing with themselves; and what is deemed essential, a well in the productions of thought as in the actions of life, is the assurance that they spring from inward conviction and spontaneous feeling.

There are, in style, some qualities which are connected with the very truth of the sentiment, and there are others which depend on grammatical correctness. It would be difficult to make the Germans understand, that the first thing to look for in a work is the manner in which it is written, and that the execution of it should be of more importance than the conception. In experimental philosophy, a work is esteemed, above all things, according to the ingenious and lucid form under which it is presented; in the idealistic philosophy, on the contrary, where all attraction is in the focus of the mind, those writers only are admired who approach the nearest to that point.

It must be admitted, too, that the habit of searching int the most hidden mysteries of our being, gives inclination fo what is deepest, and sometimes for what is most obscure i thought. Thus the Germans too often blend metaphysics with. poetry.

The new philosophy inspires us with the necessity of rising to thoughts and sentiments without bounds. This impulse may be favorable to genius, but it is so to genius alone, and i' often gives to those who are destitute of genius very ridiculou pretensions. In France, mediocrity finds every thing too pow erful and too exalted; in Germany, it finds nothing so high as the new doctrine. In France, mediocrity laughs at enthusiasm; in Germany, it despises a certain sort of reason. A writer can never do enough to convince German readers that his ideas are not superficial, that he is occupied, in all things, with the immortal and the infinite. But as the faculties of the mind are not always correspondent to such vast desires, it often

happens that gigantic efforts produce but common results. Nevertheless, this general disposition assists the flight of thought; and it is easier, in literature, to set bounds, than to give emulation.

The taste which the Germans show for what is playful and simple, and of which I have already had occasion to speak, seems to be in contradiction with their inclination for metaphysics, an inclination which arises from the desire of knowing and of analyzing one's self; nevertheless, it is to the influ ence of a system that we are to refer this taste for playful simplicity; for, in Germany, there is philosophy in every thing, even in the imagination. One of the first characteristics of simplicity is to express what is felt or thought, without reflecting on any result, or aiming at any object; and it is in this respect that it agrees with the theory of the Germans on liter

ature.

In separating the beautiful from the useful, Kant clearly proves that it is not in the nature of the fine arts to give lessons. Undoubtedly, every thing that is beautiful ought to give birth to generous sentiments, and these sentiments excite o virtue; but when the object is to put in proof a precept of norality, the free impression produced by masterpieces of art is necessarily destroyed; for the object aimed at, whatever it may be, when it is known, limits and confines the imagination. It is related, that Louis XIV once said to a preacher, who had directed a sermon against him, "I am ready enough to take to myself my share, but I will not have it allotted to me." These words might be applied to the fine arts in general: they ought to elevate the soul, and not to indoctrinate it.

Nature often displays her magnificence without any aim, and often with a profuseness, which the partisans of utility would call prodigal. She seems to delight in giving more splendor to the flowers, to the trees of the forest, than to the vegetables which serve for the food of man. If what is useful held the first rank in nature, would she not adorn the nutritious plants with more charms than roses, which are only Deautiful? And whence comes it, that to deck the altar of