The moral character of Burger was far from being a model of purity ; yet, if his failings must be allowed to have been numerous, his acknowledged virtues may per haps be allowed to soften the tone of rigorous censure. His friends have borne ample testimony to the benevo lence, disinterestedness, and liberality of sentiment, which uniformly distinguished him ; and have recorded in stances of generosity and truly Christian charity, which do him infinite honour. An uncommon vivacity of feel ing, and a want of steady plinciple in the general con duct ci life, appear to have constituted the defective part of his character; and while the former frequently hur ried him into errors, which reason must have acknow ledged and reprobated ; the latter removed eve)) obsta cle to the impetuosity of passion. An indolent and ir resolute mind, unable to resist the seductive allurements that are presented to the senses, produced a life which was too lotion marked by irregularity and dissipation ; and ac tions which will not stand a trial, according to the strict tests of religion and of virtue.
Upon the pot tical character and merits of Burger, we can du ell with more unmingled pleasure. Although all of is 1.111TR roux productions will by no means satisfy the rignions uemands of taste and criticism ; yet there will be fund, in general, throughout his works, a spirit of origina.ity, a copiousn( ss of poetical imagery, an energy and fir( of language, and a harmony of versification, w:)ich indic the offspring of no ordinary genius. Of these exc. il-neies, his PerviOlium Veneris, his Ode to Hope, his 119heN Lied, the twi, poems on t 1. fifth n. rsary of the foundation of the University of Gottingen, and others, afford abundant examples. His defects, which, however, are more than compensated by his acknovv:edg ed beauties, may he partly ascribed to the peculiarities of his genius, and partly flow, as a necessary consequence, from the system he professed and pursued, in regard to poetical composition. He possessed more vigour and originality, than chasteness and disciplined thougnt ; more boldness and luxuriancy of imagination, than cor rectness of judgment or refinement of taste. Like some writers of poetry in our own country, he avowedly look ed upon popularity as, at once, the greatest proof of lite rary merit, and the highest reward of poetical exertion ; and not that species of popularity which is conferred upon an author by the suffrages of the truly learned and dis cerning, but that which is acquired by condescending to adopt the feelings and prejudices, and even the very language, of the illiterate and the vulgar. To this er roneous system he too frequently sacrifices the rules of art, and the feelings of propriety, and gives to his effu sions an occasional coarseness, which is apt to offend a critical and refined reader. Some of his sonnets and smaller pieces, too, however beautiful in diction and ver sification, betray too much of the individual character, sensations, and sufferings of the author : They not only exhibit pictures of individual and peculiar dispositions and emotions of the mind, but are, in fact, the offspring of these peculiar and temporary feelings ; feelings too minute and particular to be fully comprehended and en joyed by the reader, and often too violent to permit a free exercise of the poet's powers.
In one species of poetical composition, however, Bur ger has few rivals. His ballads, whether original or imi tated, exhibit a richness in all the different essential qualities of that kind of writing, which has seldom been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed. In simplicity, energy-, pathos, and humour, according to the nature of his subject, he always displays powers as excellent as they are various. His attention had been drawn, at an early stage of his literary career, to Percy's cc Helicks," a collection which he perused with delight, and of which he translated some of the contents. Several of his bal lads, however, are unquestionably original. An attempt, indeed, was made in the Monthly Magazine, (September 1796,) to show that Burger had taken the story of his Leonora, from an old English ballad, The Suffolk Mt rack. But, in the first place, it is extremely improbable that Burger ever saw this supposed original ; and, in the second place, it is certain that he used to give his friends a very different account of the matter, and we do not un derstand that his veracity was ever called in question. The first idea of writing such a ballad, he said, was sug gested to him by hearing a peasant girl sing, by moon light, some verses, of which he recollected only three lines, which we translate thus : " The moon it shines so bright, The dead ride fast by night Sweet love, art not afraid?" From which it appears very probable, that an old bal lad, somewhat similar in its subject, had existed at one time in Germany. After all, in a poem such as Leonora, it is not so much the invention, as the manner of execu tion, w oich evinces the genius of the anti or ; and, in this latter respect, the merit ()I' Burger is indisputable.
The amateurs of German literature are probably fa miliar with his other ballads, cc Der Wilde Jager." (which has been translated, or rather imitated, by Mr Scott;' " Die Treiber von Weinaberg ;" cc Des Plat-rens Toc/iter von Taubenhain ;" " Das Lied von Treue," &cc.; be sides his translations from the English, which will not shrink from a comparison even With their beautiful ori ginals.
The ballad of Leonora has been frequently translated. The admirers of splendid specimens of typography are acquainted with the elegant version or Mi' W. Spencer, beautifully printed in folio, with engravings, from admir able designs, by Lady D. Beauclere. See the Life pre fixed to the fourth volume of Burger's works, published by Reinhard, in four volumes 8vo. Gottingen, 1796, and following years ; and Schiller's Review of Burger's Po ems, in the 4th volume of that author's prose writings, Leipsic, 1802. (z)