Chapter VI: VI (8)

During the first year I was in England I sometimes saw harrowing scenes among the poor German families stranded and wrecked in London. These poor people flocked to the Prussian Legation. Generally they could only see the porter. If they were lucky, they saw a secretary; and, if very lucky, the Minister himself, Bunsen, came to see them in the hall. Now and then I was sent to find out what might be true in the heart-rending stories they told. And often there was plenty of truth in them. Father, mother, and children had been tempted away from a small village in the Black Forest or the Erzgebirge. They had been told that England was made of gold and silver, and that they had only to scratch the soil to get as much as they wanted and bring it home. They believed it all, and when they saw the glistening white chalk cliffs near Dover, they thought they were all of silver. Then when they came to London, the misery began, and began very soon. They were hungry, the children were sickly, and there was nothing for them to do to earn an honest penny. Nothing remained but to earn dishonest pennies, and in this they were readily helped by all the people around them.

I cannot tell the harrowing scenes I saw. Those who care to know what is going on among the poor German families in London should go themselves, and they would see more than they would wish ever to have seen. One case I shall never forget, and it is perhaps as well that people should know these things. In one room on a miserable bed there lay a poor girl, quite young, who had given birth to a child. The child had fortunately died. The people about her had been kind to her, and done all they could be expected to do. But, oh! the sad, half-delirious face of the dying mother, for there could be no doubt that she was dying. And what was her story? As far as I could find out from the women about her, she was the daughter of a German clergyman. A young Englishman had come to their vicarage to learn German. He had fallen in love with his pretty German teacher, and the poor girl had fallen in love with him. He had promised her marriage, and when she could no longer hide her state from her parents she had been persuaded by her lover to follow him to England. In London he had left her with a small sum of money at a little German hotel, promising to come back as soon as possible after he had seen his father. When the money which he had left for her became low, she had been sent to a poor German family. She never believed that he whom she called her English husband had forsaken her. Something, she felt sure, had happened to prevent him from coming back to her. I hope she was right. However, he never came; she died, and died in agonies, calling for him, for her child, for her happy home in Germany, and with her last breath and her last tears for her mother! She never divulged any names. She died and was buried with her child.

Can society do nothing for these poor victims? Can we only call them hard names—some of them being the most gentle, the most loving, the most innocent creatures in the world! Have we not even some Pharisees left among us who will go out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last, instead of throwing a stone at her? Who is to solve this problem if not He who said: “Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more”? And she, the poor girl, was she really so great a sinner? She did not look so. And if she was, had she not expiated her sin and been purified by the most awful suffering? She looked so pure and innocent that Heine’s lines were constantly coming into my mind:—

Mir ist’s als ob ich die Hände
Auf’s Haupt Dir legen sollt’,
Und beten dass Gott Dich behüte,
So fromm, so rein, so hold.

Poor girl! I felt for her with all my heart, but I had but few words of comfort for her. How difficult it is to judge. Love, youth, nature, and ignorance have to be reckoned with in our judgments; and society, which no doubt has to enforce certain laws for its own protection, should distinguish at least between sins against society and sins against God, before whom one untrue and unkind word, written or spoken, may weigh heavier in the scales, for all we know, than the sin of many a heart-broken girl.

INDEX

Abeken, 265

Albany, Duke of, 276–280

Albrecht the Bear, 211, 228–230

Alliterative poetry, 44–47

Americans, 167, 169

Anhalt-Coethen, last Duke of, 235–237

Anhalt-Dessau, Duke of, 230, 231

Anhalt-Dessau, Duchess of, 78, 245

Arndt, Moritz, 66, 67

Arnold, Matthew, 86, 120,1 28–142

Ascania, 230 _n._

Basedow, 6, 53

Basedow, Adolf von, 68, 69

Beck, Karl, 67

Bedesmen, 299, 300

Beethoven, 3, 4

Begging, excitement of, 290–292

Bennett, Sterndale, 30

Bernhard of Clairvaux, 227

Bhikshus, 299

Bird, R. Mertyns, 87

Bismarck, 248, 261, 269

Bluegowns, 299

Blum, Robert, 66, 69, 70

Boeckh, 24

Boetticher, Karl. _See_ Lagarde.

Brahms, 3

Brazil, late Emperor of, 280–285

Brother, M. M.’s, 296–299

Browning, Robert, 41, 86, 120, 143, 159–162

Brugsch Pasha, 251

Bunsen, 306

Burnouf, Eugène, 136

Byron, 49

Carlyle, 86, 102, 103

Cetto, Baron, 254

Charity Organization Society, 300

Chorus = dance, 43, 44

Christian, Prince of Anhalt, 224

Church, Dean, 145

Clough, 86, 127, 128

Conservatoire, Paris, 15

Coxe, Rev. H. O., 303

Crown Prince (Emperor Frederick), 257–272

Curtius, Ernst, 256

Danish officer begging, 293–295

Darwin, 86, 202–204

Darwinian School, 194, 200–202

David, 3, 13, 18

Dessau, 5, 6

Dickens, 126, 127

Dindorf, 306, 308

Donkin, Professor, 36

Doyle, Sir F., 144

Eckstein, Baron von, 72

Emerson, 86, 148, 149, 170–177

Eugénie, the Empress, 208

Evolution, 194–200

Faraday, 86, 191–193

Feet in poetry, 42–45

Fiske, John, 137

Fontane, Theodor, 61

Foreigners in distress, Society for relieving, 302

Frederick the Great, 221, 222

Frederick William IV., 245–247, 249, 251, 260, 270, 271

Froude, J. A., 49, 86, 88–106, 138, 146

Gaberlunzie men, 299

Gaisford, Dean, 35

George, Prince of Anhalt, 226

German girl dying, 318

German principalities, 215

German tailor, poor, 312–315

German teacher, poor, 315–317

Gewandhaus Concerts, 13, 16, 27

Gibbon, 98, 99, 146

Goethe, 48, 52–54, 76, 137–139, 141, 142, 218, 234

Goldstücker, 247

Grant, Sir A., 145

Granville, Lord, 275

Greek coins, theft of, 309, 310

Grote, 86, 146

Gustavus Adolphus, 224, 225

Haupt, Professor, 56

Haydn, 3

Heine, H., 41, 48, 57–62

Helmholtz, 137

Helps, Sir A., 86, 188

Hensel, Fanny, 22–25, 27

Herder, 234

Herlossohn, 67

Herodotus, 99

Herwegh, 64–66

Hiller, 13, 17, 30, 31

Holland, late Queen of, 284, 285

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 86, 169, 181–184

Hugo, Victor, 72, 158

Humboldt, Alexander von, 245, 248–251

Hummel, 21

Hundred Greatest Men, 137

Huxley, 86, 120

Jellineck, 70

Johnson, Manuel, 145

Jowett, 145

Jubilee, the Diamond, 285–288

Kalliwoda, 14, 18

Karl, August, Duke of Weimar, 219, 234

Kerner, J., 54, 55

Kingsley, Charles, 47, 86, 105–119

Klingemann, 32

Kühne, 67

Lagarde, Paul de, 82

Lamartine, 71–74

Lamennais, 72

Laube, 67

Lavater, 219

Leopold Friedrich, late Duke of Dessau, 210–215, 233, 237, 243

Leopold Friedrich Franz, Duke of Dessau, 217–220

Leopold, the old Dessauer, 220–223

Lepsius, 305, 307

Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, 268

Lind, Jenny, 16, 34, 35

Liszt, 16–21

Livy, 99

Longfellow, 181

Lowell, 86, 170, 177–181

Luther, 224–226

Lyall, 86

Lytton, Lord, 188–190

Macaulay, 86, 99, 102, 185–187

Martineau, Rev. Dr., 86

Matthison, 219

Maurice, Frederick, 86, 192

Melody, 1, 27

Mendelssohn, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 21–27, 31–33

Metre, 42–45

Meyer, Dr. Karl, 273 _n._

Mill, J. S., 192

Milman, Dean, 192

Morier, 145

Moscheles, 21, 30

Mozart, 3, 4, 8

Müller, Wilhelm, 16, 48–55, 56, 84

Napoleon, 219

Natural selection, 195

Neate, 125, 145

Newman and Kingsley, 113–116

Novello, Clara, 30

Oriental languages, School of, 275, 276

Orléans, Duchesse d’, 73, 74

Ouseley, Sir F., 38

Owen, Sir Richard, 86

Palgrave, F., 144, 145

Platen, 40–42

Poetry, 139–143

Porter, Noah, 137

Prince Consort, 271, 272–275

Prussia, Prince of, 252–256

Prussia, Princess of, 256, 257

Pusey and Kingsley, 116

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 99

Ranke, 100

Renan, 137

Rhyme, 40–48

Roggenbach, Baron, 256

Rosen, F., 32

Royal Institution, 193

Rückert, 42, 46, 75–85

Ruskin, 86, 147–152

Russell, Lord John, 274

Sandars, 145

Sand, George, 72

Schiller, 234

Schlœzer, 256

Schneider, F., 8, 10, 12

Schubert, 16, 49

Schumann, 4, 18, 27–30

Schwab, G., 54

Sedgwick, 86

Sellar, 145

Sewell, Dr., 89

“S. G. O.,” 88

Shaftesburys, the three Lord, 130–133, 135

Shairp, John, 144

Shakespeare, 141

Shapira, 308

Simonides, 303–308

Socialism, Christian, 111

Stainer, Sir John, 37

Stanley, Dean, 1, 34, 86, 107, 116, 137, 193, 208, 285

Stanley, Lady, 193

Stern, Daniel, 73

Stockhausen, 16

Stockmarr, General, 240

Strophe, antistrophe, 43

Stubbs, Dr., 104, 105

Taine, H., 137

Tennyson, 41, 47, 86, 152–159, 285

Thackeray, 124–126

Thalberg, 30

Thirlwall, Bishop, 86, 192

Thirty-nine Articles, 141

Translations, 93, 97

Trinity, doctrine of the, 130–135

Trithen, Dr., 149

Turner’s pictures, 151

Tyndall, 120

Uhland, 54, 56

Uranios, Simonides’ forgery of, 304–308

Versus, 43

Vineta, 50

Wagner, 4

Wales, Prince of, at Oxford, 276

Weber, C. M., 11

Whewell, 86

Wieck, Clara (Madame Schumann), 17, 21, 28, 29

Wieland, 219, 234

William I., 265, 272

William II., 267

Winckelmann, 218

Wörlitz, 219, 225

Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt, 225

Wolfsohn, 62

Wolverton, Lord, 86

-----

Footnote 1:

See M. M., “Vedic Hymns,” S.B.E., vol. xxxii., p. 96.

Footnote 2:

Autobiographie, p. 224.

Footnote 3:

“Neugriechische Volkslieder,” gesammelt von C. Fauriel, übersetzt von
Wilhelm Müller, Leipzig, 1825.

Footnote 4:

See J. Kerner, “Die Seherin von Prevorst,” 1829.

Footnote 5:

The metre used in his volume of “Tragödien nebst einem lyrischen
Intermezzo,” Berlin, 1823. I possess a copy of it with Heine’s
dedication: “Als ein Zeichen seiner Achtung und mit dem besonderen
Wunsche, dass der Waldhornist das lyrische Intermezzo seiner
Aufmerksamkeit würdige, überreicht dieses Buch der Verfasser.”

Footnote 6:

As many of my unknown friends have come to my assistance and sent me
Herwegh’s poem I feel bound to give it here in its entirety:—

STROPHEN AUS DER FREMDE.

Ich möchte hingeh’n wie das Abendroth,
Und wie der Tag mit seinen letzten Gluthen—
O! leichter, sanfter ungefühlter Tod!—
Mich in den Schoosz des Ewigen verbluten.

Ich möchte hingeh’n wie der heitre Stern,
In vollstem Glanz in ungeschwächtem Blinken;
So stille und so schmerzlos möchte gern
Ich in des Himmels blaue Tiefen sinken.

Ich möchte hingeh’n wie der Blume Duft,
Der freudig sich dem schönen Kelch entringet
Und auf dem Fittig blüthenschwangrer Luft
Als Weihrauch auf des Herrn Altar sich schwinget.

Ich möchte hingeh’n wie der Thau im Thal,
Wenn durstig ihm des Morgens Feuer winken;
O wollte Gott, wie ihn der Sonnenstrahl,
Auch meine lebensmüde Seele trinken!

Ich möchte hingeh’n wie der bange Ton,
Der aus den Saiten einer Harfe dringet;
Und, kaum dem irdischen Metall entfloh’n,
Ein Wohllaut, in des Schöpfers Brust verklinget.

Du wirst nicht hingeh’n wie das Abendroth,
Du wirst nicht stille, wie der Stern, versinken,
Du stirbst nicht einer Blume leichten Tod,
Kein Morgenstrahl wird deine Seele trinken.

Wohl wirst du hingeh’n, hingeh’n ohne Spur,
Doch wird das Elend deine Kraft erst schwächen
Sanft stirbt es einzig sich in der Natur,
Das arme Menschenherz muss stückweis brechen.

Footnote 7:

See Brugsch, “Mein Leben,” p. 104.

Footnote 8:

“Literature and Dogma,” 1873, pp. 305, _seq._

Footnote 9:

“Literature and Dogma,” p. 143.

Footnote 10:

Schiller’s “Wallenstein,” Prolog, vv. 48, 49.

Footnote 11:

This was written in 1851, and here in 1897 that Welcome has never
ceased to be a blessing to me.

Footnote 12:

I had written some articles in _The Times_ to show that when we meet
with jade tools in countries far removed from the few mines in which
jade is found, we must admit that they were carried along as precious
heirlooms by the earliest emigrants from Asia to Europe, by the same
people who carried the tools of their mind, that is the words of their
language, from their original homes to the shores of the
Mediterranean, to Iceland, to Ireland, and in the end to America.

Footnote 13:

(“Professor” I would fain have said,
But the pinched line would not admit it,
And where the nail submits its head,
There must the hasty hammer hit it!)

Footnote 14:

“Lectures on the Science of Language,” vol. ii., p. 343.

Footnote 15:

Ascania seems to have been the Latin rendering of Asgaria, which
appears on the map as Ascharien, and is now called Aschersleben. It
must have been very tempting for a mediæval Latin scholar to see in
Asgaria or Ascharia a trace of Ascanius, the son of Aeneas. Old local
names, however, are difficult to explain, particularly if they occur
on German soil that was formerly occupied by Slavonic tribes, because
the Germans often mispronounced and then misinterpreted Slavonic
names. It is easy to guess, but often difficult to prove their
original form and meaning. If, as seems but fair, we admit a German
origin for _Asgaria_ or Ascharien, it is most natural to see in it a
modification of the well-known word _As-gard_, _i.e._, the home of the
gods. Âs (or ass), plus-aesir, was a name of the gods in Old Norse; in
Gothic it would have been, as Grimm has shown (“Deutsche Mythol.,” p.
22), Anses, and this is found in several proper names such as Ansgâr,
AS. Oscar, god-spear. The Swedish åska, lightning, thunder, if it
stands for ás-ekja, meant originally the driving of the god, _i.e._,
of Thor, thunder being supposed to be due to the rattle of his
chariot. Proper names such as Ásbjörn, Ásmodr display the same
element. Asgard is the abode of the gods, by the side of Mitgart, the
abode of men, or the earth, and would have supplied a very natural
name either for a sanctuary or for any place sacred to the gods. But
though our way seems easy from Asgard to Asgaria, Ascania, Ascharien
and even Aschersleben, and though in Esics also, the name of a Prince
of Asgaria, we may recognise a derivation of Âs, meaning divine or
beloved by the gods, Gottlieb, there is another word that may put in a
claim on Askanius if that was not a more learned corruption of
Asgaria. For Askr in German mythology (Grimm, _l.c._, p. 327) is the
first man, and means ashtree, and from him the Iscaevones, mentioned
by Tacitus, derived their name (Grimm, _l.c._, p. 324). According to
tradition the first King of the Saxons also was called Aschanes, and
he is said to have sprung from a rock in the midst of a wood (Grimm,
_l.c._, p. 537). We must admit therefore the possibility that our
Ascanius was a German word Aschanes, and in that case had nothing to
do with Âs, aesir, the ancient gods of the Scandinavians. Having met
with these various traces of the gods as the names of men and places
in Anhalt, one feels tempted to see in the An of Anhalt too a remnant
of the same name. Anhalt is explained as the place ane holt, without
wood, but as it seems to have stood in the very midst of a wood, or an
der halde, near the precipice, this derivation is not very likely.
Others take it in the modern sense of Anhalt, a firm hold or safe
refuge. All this is possible, but it is likewise possible to take An
for Ans, so that Anhalt might have been the wood or grove of the gods.
We must not lay too much stress on the loss of the s, particularly if
by a popular etymology Anhalt had been made to convey the meaning of
support or stronghold. All these are and can only be guesses, and
certainty could only be gained, if at all, from old historical
documents giving the original forms of all these names and trustworthy
indications as to how they arose. The whole question is one for the
historian rather than for the philologist, and I gladly leave it to
them to solve the riddle if they can.

Footnote 16:

Dr. Meyer was a most interesting character. He had been for years in
Bunsen’s house, formerly private secretary to Schelling, the
philosopher. He was a poet and a scholar, very strong in Welsh, having
spent many years travelling about in Wales. He certainly was not cut
out for life at court. After leaving England he spent the last years
of his life as reader to the old Emperor of Germany; a most faithful
soul, and full of varied information. Some of his occasional poems
were beautiful, his “Bellone Orientalis” a masterwork; but they are
all forgotten now. Dr. Meyer was devoted to the Prince, and much that
the world does not know of him, and never will know, I learnt at the
time from Dr. Meyer.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 4. The music files are the music transcriber's interpretation of the printed notation and are placed in public domain.