&MILLER, JOHANN CHRISTOPH. FRIEDRTC:i VON, one of the greatest poetical geninses of Germany, was b. at Marbach, a little town of Wfi•temberg. on Nov. 11, 1759. lEs father, Joh. Kaspar Schiller, was overseer of the nurseries attached to a country-seat of the dike of Wdrtemberg. Schiller received his first formal instruction front the parish priest Moser, at Loreh; and in 1773, the duke, who had formed a favorable opinion both of Sehillerand his father, offered to educate the boy, free of expense, at the mili tary academy founded by him at the castle of Solitude, and afterward transferred to • Stuttgart under the name of Karls-schale. The offer was accepted, and entering the rigorous academy, Schiller tried to devote himself to jurisprudence. His success in the new study was small, and after two yeari he exchanged ft for medicine. But literature. especially poetry, was the secret idol of his soul, and its chief delight. Already the characteristics of his genius—his tendencies toward epic and dramatic idealism—were showing themselves in his predilections. Ills first literary attempts of any moment were dramatic—Der Student von Namsa an.I comes von Jfelici—whi;th were consigned (doubt less not without reason) to the fire. Meanwhile, the poet's general intell2ctual culture and his professional studies went steadily on; and in 1739 he paSsed as a military sur geon, but with no liking for such a career. In 1773 Schiller completed the first sketch of his memorable drama, DA', Ruaaber (The Robbers), the publication of which, in 1780, excited the most violent enthusiasm among the young all over Germany, so wild. and strong, and glowing were the passion and fancy displayed in it. Respectable people, dignitaries, functionaries an 1 the like, were, of course, deeply scandalized; and the duke himself, a "serene highness" sort of man, was induced to lecture the poet on his delin quency, and forbade him to write any more poetry "without submitting it to Its ilspectionl" In 1782 Tao Robbers was brought upon the stage at Mannlichn—the poet being present without the knowledge of his superiors, the result of which was arrest for a for:night! This led to further complications, and finally, in October of the same year, Schiller fled from the harsh service of the duke into Franconia. and lived for a year Ender a feigned name at Btuerbach, near Meiningen, where lie completed his Kesco and Ca3ale and Liebe, begun at Stuttgart. Don Carlos was also sketched in outline here In Sept., 1783, he went back to Mannheim, and was for some lime closely connected with actors and theatrical life. To this period belong several of his lesser poems. With the Casale and Liebe above mentioned ended the first poetic period in Sebiller's career, ctlierwise known as the Siam and Diang period, in which burning energy of passion and a robust extravagance, passing often into sheer bombast of speech, are the predomi nant characteristics. In Mar., 1785, Schiller left Mannheim and proceeded to Leipzig, where he became acquainted, among others, witlilluber and Kilmer, and wrote his beau tiful Lied an die Pi.ende; thence, after a few months, he went to Dresden. where he
Leuati the practice of composing during the night, which so fatally assisted iu shortening his life. Dv. Geisterseher (The Ghost-seer), a, strikingly powerful romance, was writ ten here; and the drama of Don Carlos was completed. In 1787 he was invited to Weimar. end was at once warmly received by Herder and Wieland; but seine years elapsed before Goethe and he could understand one another; after that, they became the closest friends. Henceforth, Schiller owed more to Goethe than to all other men: we may even call the later and best writings of &hiller inspirations of Goethe. The study the spirit and • literature of antiquity in p articular exercised a wholesome influence over him, and in his Water Uriechodands (G«ts of Greece), which belongs to this staue, we see how calm, and clear, and sunny his once turbid and st.ormful imagination was gradually becoming. Reinhold of Jena introduced him to the Kantian philosophy, and for sonic little time Schiller was in danger of lapsing from a poet into a metaphysician. The philosophical and a2sthetic treatises springing out of this new study were collected and published under the title of Kleine prosaischen Schrfften (4 vols.„lena, 1192-1802). His Geschichte des Dreissirjahrigen Kriegs (History of the Thirty Years' War) originally appeared in the Taschenkalender fur Damen (1790-93). On the occasion of the poet's marriage in 1790 with Charlotte von Lengefold, the duke of Meiningcn made him a Wrath (privy-coun cilor); the French republic also conferred on him the right of citizenship; and in 1802 the emperor raised him to the rank of nobility. While staying for a year with his rela tives in Wiirtemberg he wrote his exquisite Drirfe fib& itsthetische Ervelivng (Letters on ..:Esthetic Culture). This period, reaching to the close of 1794, is generally regarded as Schiller's transition period ;. in poetic accomplishment it is not rich, but in earnest, thoughtful, and manifold speculation it was highly important to the poet, and we find that it prepared the way for the last and most splendid development of his genius. After 1793 the finest of his lyrics and dramas were produced—as her Spaziergang and the Lied der Glocke (Song of the Bell) in 171,6, Wallenstein (1799), Maria Stuart (1800), Die Jung fran ron Orleans (1801), Brant run Messina (Bride of Messina, 1803), and filially, his greatest drama, Withelm Tell (1804). But his health- had been long giving way, partly to a natural weakness of constitution, and partly to incessant to study; and on May 9, 1803, he expired, at the early age of 46. Ever since his death the fame of Schiller has been on the increase; he has long been recognized as, next to Goethe, the greatest poet that Germany has produced, and innumerable editions of his works in whole or part have been published. The best account of him and his works is given by Carlyle in his Lift of Friedrich Schiller (Loud. 1823).