ON THE MEN WHO HAVE INFLUENCED

MODERN GERMAN THOUGHT.

BY BARON LOUIS BENAS.

AMONG the nations that take rank in all that concerns the true civilisation of the present age, the Teutonic race does not occupy the lowest position; and yet, of all the great human families that have contributed to the vast domain of art, science, literature and philosophy, the German people were the last to achieve prominence. Whilst Spain was revelling in the philosophic lore of her high schools in Cordova, Granada, Toledo, and Sarragossa; whilst Byzantium treasured up for itself the, relics of the classic ages, and the wise men of Constantinople were sought by all the aspiring youth of Europe; whilst Italy had her poets, painters, lyrics, and historians; whilst France had her troubadours, minstrels, authors, and philosophers; aye, and whilst this England of ours had its grand dramatists, poets, and thinkers, Germany possessed not even an intelligible language. These are very strong epithets, but I repeat that Germany did not even possess an intelligible language. A barbarous, rough, uncouth jargon, split into fifty dialects, served for the Teutonic race as a medium of conversation. The Suabian could not understand the Saxon dialect; the Saxon was totally different to the Hanoverian; the Hanoverian, again, was unintelligible to the Borussian; whilst the Borussian was almost a stranger to the dweller of the North Sea borders. As in all early races there were bardic effusions that served for the period as the chronicles of the times, so the Germans had their Meister-sangers, their Minnesängers, their Niebelungenlied,

their Heldenbuch, wild compounds of love, war, and romance, such as Macpherson has presented us in the book of Ossian; but even these effusions were the offspring of the Suabians, and the seat of the Meister-sangers was held in the cities of Mainz, Nuremberg, and Strasburg, where a little of the dulcet sounds of Italy and France could easily be wafted across the borders. Hans Sachs, one of these minstrels, wrote rhyme by the yard, but it contains the merest germs of true poetry.

Germany never took kindly either to Rome or Roman influence; from the days when Varus was defeated by Arminius in the Teutoburg forest, and caused the imperial Augustus to cry, "Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!" to the present day, there has been a continual struggle, both physically and mentally, with Latinism. The Christianity which Boniface preached to the Germans, but which was more effectually introduced by the sword of Charlemagne, had a very loose hold upon the popular mind. The belief in sprites, cobolds, nixes and elves, was everywhere prevalent among the Teutons. Every grove had its geist, every dell was haunted by a fairy, every crag was infested by cobolds, the powers of which were never doubted, but at best thought to be neutralised by a Christian formula, a cross-hilted sword, or a sainted relic; and, as even now in Africa, where the Obeah priest and the medicine man have such powerful influence upon the ignorant multitude, so the reputed witch, for many centuries after the introduction of Christianity, shared with the priest not a little of the popular dread or favour.

Split up, as the Teutonic races were politically, under numerous little potentates, it was impossible for one ruler to make a supreme effort for their regeneration. What was law in one little domain was ostracised in the neighbouring

one.

There seems to have been only one common bond of union in all these tribes, and that was hatred of the Walshman. By Walshman was understood those beyond the mountains. All the Latin races were thus classified by the German, the same as our Anglo-Saxons called those beyond their mountains Welshmen, whilst the Welsh themselves know of no such appellation, but style themselves Cymraeg. So the Italians, French, and Spaniards were known to the old Teutons as Welshmen, or Walshers.

It is owing to Martin Luther, in the first instance, that the Germans possess a language.

The writer of this Paper, be it understood, has no predilection for the dogmatic teachings of this heroic man; but if there is any one human being more than another that has deserved well of his country; if there is any one man who has indelibly stamped his high genius upon a whole people, who has tended to make them what they now are, it is undoubtedly Martin Luther. The philosopher, humbly though he may endeavour to deserve that name, dare never allow prejudice to stand between himself and truth; so when the overgrown mosses of fierce hatred and prejudice have been torn away, and all traces of fungus that have clung to the name of this great German have been removed, the rough-hewn statue of the monk of Wittenburg will develop itself as that of one of the greatest literary benefactors of the Teutonic race.

We will drop all reference to the immediate causes of the quarrel of Martin Luther with Rome; but once having seceded, he laboured hard to banish Latin ideas from his people. He successfully accomplished this by his magnificent translation; magnificent, though from a critical point of view not free from error. By this huge labour he crushed at one blow all the uncouth dialects, and established a literary standard of phraseology, known as Hochdeutch, to

which, however, as we shall show, there was subsequently much refinement and polish added, though from this Hochdeutch the Germans have never materially deviated. Here at once the man of letters had a common form of expression which was tacitly accepted as a classic one. Luther was aided in his endeavours by the invention of printing, for had it not been for this new discovery, which was almost simultaneous with his time, his efforts might have perished still-born. This naturally caused his writings to penetrate every nook and corner of the dominion, whilst his preaching was only heard by the few. In addition to creating a language for the Germans, he was also a destroyer. He at one blow destroyed the lingering belief in elves, nixes, sprites, and cobolds, and gave the people a substitute in the biblical stories.

Strange as it may appear, whilst the Teutons never would accept much from the Latins, they seized with avidity the stories and psalms and lyrics of the Semitic peasants; and, whilst nothing of the Latin effusions had ever influenced the national life of the Germans, the writings in what is termed the sacred book permeated and interwove themselves in the daily life and action of the Teuton, until every warrior prated of the sword of the Lord and Gideon; every heroine called herself a Deborah; and every orator thought himself a Saul of Tarsus. Luther's versification, though very rugged, adapted itself to the popular tastes; and, through the chanting of his vigorous and manly hymns, the knowledge of Hochdeutch and classic German soon became the language of the people.

The Thirty Years' War did much to destroy the germs of literature which were now fairly implanted on Teutonic soil. When mere boys, adults, and grey-haired men had to shoulder a pike, and do battle either for the Kaiser or the Snow-King; when huge armies traversed and retraversed what were once smiling fields and lovely vineyards; when