Part 9 (2/2)
The Rake of Taste, or the Elegant Debauchee (another ape of the Shandean style, according to _London Magazine_).
A Supplement to the Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, by the author of Yorick's Meditations, 12mo.]
[Footnote 86: _Monthly Review_, XL, p. 166.]
[Footnote 87: ”Der Reisegefahrte,” Berlin, 1785-86. ”Komus oder der Freund des Scherzes und der Laune,” Berlin, 1806. ”Museum des Witzes der Laune und der Satyre,” Berlin, 1810. For reviews of Coriat in German periodicals see _Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen_, 1774, p. 378; _Leipziger Musen-Almanach_, 1776, p. 85; _Almanach der Deutschen Musen_, 1775, p. 84; _Unterhaltungen_, VII, p. 167.]
[Footnote 88: See _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1796, I, p. 256.]
[Transcriber's Note: The first of the two footnote tags may be an error.]
[Footnote 89: The ident.i.ty could be proven or disproven by comparison. There is a copy of the German work in the Leipzig University Library. Ireland's book is in the British Museum.]
[Footnote 90: See the _English Review_, XIII, p. 69, 1789, and the _Monthly Review_, LXXIX, p. 468, 1788.]
[Footnote 91: _Allg. Litt. Zeitung_, 1791, I, p. 197. A sample of the author's absurdity is given there in quotation.]
[Footnote 92: Joh. Friedrich Sc.h.i.n.k, better known as a dramatist.]
[Footnote 93: See the story of the gentlewoman from Thionville, p. 250, and elsewhere.]
[Footnote 94: The references to the _Deutsche Monatsschrift_ are respectively, I, pp. 181-188, and II, pp. 65-71.]
[Footnote 95: For review of Sc.h.i.n.k's book see _Allg. Litt.
Zeitung_, 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7. Bottiger seems to think that Sc.h.i.n.k's work is but another working over of Stevenson's continuation.]
[Footnote 96: It is not given by Goedeke or Meusel, but is given among Sc.h.i.n.k's works in ”Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen,” Weimar, 1835-1837, XIII, pp. 161-165.]
[Footnote 97: In both these books the English author may perhaps be responsible for some of the deviation from Sterne's style.]
[Footnote 98: CV, p. 271.]
[Footnote 99: Kayser notes another translation, ”Fragmente in Yorick's Manier, aus dem Eng., mit Kpf., 8vo.” London, 1800. It is possibly identical with the one noted above. A second edition of the original came out in 1798.]
[Footnote 100: The original of this was published by Kearsley in London, 1790, 12mo, a teary contribution to the story of Maria of Moulines.]
CHAPTER V
STERNE'S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY
Thus in manifold ways Sterne was introduced into German life and letters.[1] He stood as a figure of benignant humanity, of lavish sympathy with every earthly affliction, he became a guide and mentor,[2]
an awakener and consoler, and probably more than all, a sanction for emotional expression. Not only in literature, but in the conduct of life was Yorick judged a preceptor. The most important attempt to turn Yorick's teachings to practical service in modifying conduct in human relations.h.i.+ps was the introduction and use of the so-called ”Lorenzodosen.” The considerable popularity of this remarkable conceit is tangible evidence of Sterne's influence in Germany and stands in striking contrast to the wavering enthusiasm, vigorous denunciation and half-hearted acknowledgment which marked Sterne's career in England.
A century of criticism has disallowed Sterne's claim as a prophet, but unquestionably he received in Germany the honors which a foreign land proverbially accords.
To Johann Georg Jacobi, the author of the ”Winterreise” and ”Sommerreise,” two well-known imitations of Sterne, the sentimental world was indebted for this practical manner of expressing adherence to a sentimental creed.[3] In the _Hamburgischer Correspondent_ he published an open letter to Gleim, dated April 4, 1769, about the time of the inception of the ”Winterreise,” in which letter he relates at considerable length the origin of the idea.[4] A few days before this the author was reading to his brother, Fritz Jacobi, the philosopher, novelist and friend of Goethe, and a number of ladies, from Sterne's Sentimental Journey the story of the poor Franciscan who begged alms of Yorick. ”We read,” says Jacobi, ”how Yorick used this snuff-box to invoke its former possessor's gentle, patient spirit, and to keep his own composed in the midst of life's conflicts. The good Monk had died: Yorick sat by his grave, took out the little snuff-box, plucked a few nettles from the head of the grave, and wept. We looked at one another in silence: each rejoiced to find tears in the others' eyes; we honored the death of the venerable old man Lorenzo and the good-hearted Englishman. In our opinion, too, the Franciscan deserved more to be canonized than all the saints of the calendar. Gentleness, contentedness with the world, patience invincible, pardon for the errors of mankind, these are the primary virtues he teaches his disciples.” The moment was too precious not to be emphasized by something rememberable, perceptible to the senses, and they all purchased for themselves horn snuff-boxes, and had the words ”Pater Lorenzo” written in golden letters on the outside of the cover and ”Yorick” within. Oath was taken for the sake of Saint Lorenzo to give something to every Franciscan who might ask of them, and further: ”If anyone in our company should allow himself to be carried away by anger, his friend holds out to him the snuff-box, and we have too much feeling to withstand this reminder even in the greatest violence of pa.s.sion.” It is suggested also that the ladies, who use no tobacco, should at least have such a snuff-box on their night-stands, because to them belong in such a high degree those gentle feelings which were to be a.s.sociated with the article.
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