of the minne-song; to me it appears rather the stiff form of that once flourishing popular poetry, which had grown old and could not be revived. The meistersingers of a later period were generally humble tradesmen. But the heavenly muse did not flourish in the abodes of the artizan, as she had done in the palaces of emperors and kings, and in the tournaments of a high and splendid chivalry. Nay, the chastity of the German muse, which through all centuries has preserved its virgin crown inviolate, was placed in peril by the un-German handling of one Rosenplüt, surnamed "the Schnepperer."

These

meister-singers, in order to treat the art with German solidity and industry, formed schools of poetry, "Meister-schulen," in which the divine art was taught according to the rules and systematic laws of trade. Their poetical code was contained in a kind of "ars poetica," called “Tabulatur," filled with edifying specimens of poetic legislation, founded on the best and most specious reasons; as, for instance, the following" No rhymed stanza shall contain more than thirteen syllables." And why? "In order that the poet may not lose breath!"

But, gentlemen, whatever be the faults of the meister-song, we should not regard it with absolute contempt. We see, it is true, the muse disguised as a German serving-maid, yet the occasional flashes of divine spirit announce that she is conscious of her dignity; and among the meister-singers we sometimes meet with men who, like the ingenious Peter

Suchenwirth and Muscatblüt, afford proof that poetry and music are the perpetual inheritance of the German people.

Intellect, especially during the fifteenth century, was a better assistant than fancy, to reason. While poetry was unable to re-ascend the summit from which she had fallen, science and industry made unprecedented advances. It is not my intention to praise the revived study and introduction of the Roman law into Germany, as any great benefit for that nation, of whom Tacitus boasted, that with them "Good morals availed more than elsewhere good laws." The glosses of the Bolognese jurisconsults imparted but little benefit to the sense of right among the Germans, though it must be confessed that the study of the law and of scholastic philosophy sharpened the intellects of my worthy countrymen. When the polemical discussions of the sixteenth century were so vehemently conducted, the offensive and defensive weapons, then used, had been long before furnished by Irnerius, Acursius, Petrus Lombardus, and others. I should not, however, imagine that truth gained much by this warfare. One great furtherance of intellectual culture must be particularly mentioned; namely, the establishment of universities, which became the nurseries of science, and thus superseded the literary monopoly of the clergy and monasteries. Their foundation on German ground is to be hailed with more satisfaction than the dark invention of Berthold Schwartz, who, by his gunpowder process, was the

destroyer of chivalry and the supporter of standing armies. Men might have attained to the present point of cultivation without knowing how to sweep off their fellow-creatures en masse:-not so, however, with the art of printing, which was one of Luther's most powerful allies in his pious warfare. ..

If we now throw a glance on the general state of European culture, we find that the period of the crusades-that is, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries-seems the spring-time of the juvenile age in European mankind. The tendency of the poetry of the middle ages, which reached its point of culmination in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, is throughout lyrical, thus corresponding to the feeling of youth. Youth is the period of lyrical song, as the biographies of the brightest geniuses in literary history will show.

With the extinction of the imperial house of Hohenstaufen, Europe assumed a fresh aspect. At first the influence of the clergy on the popular character and cultivation was undisputed; but their immorality increased with their increasing power; while Europe, under hierarchical and monastic dominion, could neither attain to a consciousness of its strength nor of its aim, to which it was, nevertheless, tending by the invisible guidance of Providence. Those faculties which, in the latter periods, have reached perfection, were gradually unfolded, and became the means of bursting the bonds which inthralled the human mind. From time to time the light of reason

broke through the gloom, which it could not yet dispel, shining as the herald of that day, which afterwards so brightly dawned. The whole of the fourteenth century certainly appears a waste, where we discover but here and there a pleasing oasis; but in the fifteenth, the genius of mankind is in motion. Great historical events, as the conquest of Constantinople, and the refuge of Greek scholars in Europe; the invention of printing, that great engine for all after times in the propagation of religious and scientific knowledge; finally, the discovery of America,—were all immediately subservient to the advancement of the human mind towards manhood. They were splendid evidences of an innate impulse to activity. The poetical life of nations, expressed in the songs of the troubadours and minne-singers, had passed away, but was succeeded by a more practical employment of reason, to which the scholastic exercises, however tedious and futile they may now appear, contributed in no mean degree. At the pile of Huss was kindled the torch which lit Luther in reading the ninety-five theses, that perplexed the pope, and made him tremble on his seven hills. In silence and seeming quiet, mankind were taking breath, preparatory to an immense exertion: weapons were selected, and the arena chosen, in which the victory was to be decided. In the south of Europe, Dante and Petrarch had long since been the song-birds, announcing the dawn of truth and beauty for Italy. In the north, a deep silence prevailed; the bold war songs of the old

northern skalds having subsided with the inspiration of mythology and martial exploits. The sounds of the meister-song in Germany, found no echo in the popular mind; but the study of the Greek classics was earnestly pursued at the universities, and the more general knowledge of Greek language and science became a powerful means for moving the mass of intelligence during the Reformation. The immorality of the catholic clergy had increased to such a pitch, that it became absolutely loathsome to the laity. The papal chair was no longer imperviously enveloped by the nimbus of sanctity; worldly wit and acuteness sometimes venturing to rend the hitherto sacred veil.

Such was the mental state of Europe. Let us now consider the political aspect of the nations at the period in question. Their constitutions were equably secured. If the Turks had wrested the finest provinces of the east from the enervated Greeks, and placed the crescent on the church of St. Sophia, still, in the west of Europe, this signal lost its ascendant by the expulsion of the Arabs from Spain and from Europe, through the conquest of Granada. In England, the sanguinary struggles, which had lasted for so long a time between the parties of the White and Red Rose, had ceased with the accession of Henry VII., and the royal power became firmly consolidated. In France, the might of the haute noblesse was broken; and, to the advantage and protection of the people, the crown acquired an absolute sway, which had