HEINE, HEINRICH, a modern German poet and wit, was b. at Dusseldorf, of Jewish parents; the date of his birth is Dec. 12, 1799, (not, as often asserted, Jan. 1, 1800). In 1819 he proceeded to the university of Bonn for the purpose of studying law; but he devoted himself with greater ardor to the study of modern and ancient German literature, under the auspices of his master and friend, August Wilhelm Schlegel. He subsequently studied at Berlin and at GOttingeu, at which latter place he took his degree as doctor of law in 1825. About this time lie abandoned Judaism, and was baptized in the Lutheran church of Heiligenstadt. A visit to the Hartz and to Italy supplied him with materials for his Reisebilder (Pictures of Travel, Hamb. 4 vols., 1826-31). This book obtained, on its first appearance, an extraordinarily brilliant suc cess. " Young Germany," in particular, became drunk with enthusiasm. His Buell der Lieder (Book of Songs, Hamb. 1827; 10th edit. 1852)—a portion of which had first appeared as Youthful Sorrows in Berlin, 1822—was no less fortunate. Many of these songs are of the most exquisite and ethereal beauty. They are unmatched in German literature, except by the lyrics which Goethe wrote in his youth. The revolution of July threw Heine into a violent fit of democracy, and in 1831 appeared his Kahldorf fiber den Adel, in Briefen an den Grafen M. von Moltke (Kahldorf on the Aristocracy, in Letters addressed to Count M. von Moltke). He now found it advisable to leave Ger many, and at once proceeded to Paris, where be resided for the rest of his life, culti. vating both with a brilliancy and malice hitherto almost unheard of. In 1835 he married a certain " Mathilde," who figures much in his writings, and in 1843-44 visited his native country, to see his mother. On his return he published Deutschland; ein Wintermiirchen (Germany; a Winter's Tale), in which he recounts imaginary ad ventures and burlesque episodes, and in which a great number of his countrymen, kings, statesmen, professors, authors, artists, etc., are mercilessly satirized and abused.
In 1847 Heine was attacked by disease of the spine, and was almost constantly bed ridden. He suffered the most acute pain, together with the loss of eyesight. with the most remarkable equanimity and even good humor, till the day of his death, which took place at Paris, Feb. 17, 1856. His will expressed a desire that no religious cere monies should be celebrated at his funeral. " This," however, he adds, " is not the weak fancy of a freethinker. For the last four years I have cast aside all philosophical pride, and have again felt the power of religious truth." What faith is to be placed in this assertion may easily be concluded from his subsequently designating the Deity as the " mighty Aristophanes of Heaven," who laughs at his cal:mimics. Besides the works already mentioned, Heine wrote Franzosische Zustiinde, Der Salon, Shakespeare's 31Mellen and _M'auen, iVeue Gediehte, Atta Troll, Bomanzero, etc. A complete edition of his works was published at Philadelphia, by John Weik, in 1856; another was pub lished, by Hoffmann Campe, in Hamburg (1861-63). A French edition of his works (Michel Levy, Paris,) was prepared, with his co-operation, by Loewe-Weimars, Gererd de Nerval, and St. Rim&-Taillandier, English versions of some of these are Le land's translation of The Pictures of Travel (1856), The Book of Songs, by J. E. Wallis (1856), the Poems complete by E. A. Bowring, (1859), and the Poems and Ballads by Theodore Martin (1879). See Heinrich Heine, by W. Stigand (1876).