What shall we say of the endeavors which in this hopeless condition were made for him?  His wife, his friends, his physician, incessantly labored to do something for him.  But it was all in vain:  at last they found him dead.  Mittler was the first to make the melancholy discovery; he called the physician, and examined closely, with his usual presence of mind, the circumstances under which he had been found.  Charlotte rushed in to them; she was afraid that he had committed suicide, and accused herself and accused others of unpardonable carelessness.  But the physician on natural, and Mittler on moral grounds, were soon able to satisfy her of the contrary.  It was quite clear that Edward’s end had taken him by surprise.  In a quiet moment he had taken out of his pocketbook and out of a casket everything which remained to him as memorials of Ottilie, and had spread them out before him—­a lock of hair, flowers which had been gathered in some happy hour, and every letter which she had written to him from the first and which his wife had ominously happened to give him.  It was impossible that he would intentionally have exposed these to the danger of being seen by the first person who might happen to discover him.

But so lay the heart, which but a short time before had been so swift and eager, at rest now, where it could never be disturbed; and falling asleep, as he did, with his thoughts on one so saintly, he might well be called blessed.  Charlotte gave him his place at Ottilie’s side, and arranged that thenceforth no other person should be placed with them in the same vault.  In order to secure this, she made it a condition under which she settled considerable sums of money on the church and the school.

So lie the lovers, sleeping side by side.  Peace hovers above their resting-place.  Fair angel faces gaze down upon them from the vaulted ceiling, and what a happy moment that will be when one day they wake again together!

SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE[1]

TRANSLATED BY JULIA FRANKLIN

So much has already been written of Shakespeare that it would seem as if nothing remained to be said; yet it is the peculiarity of a great mind ever to stimulate other minds.  This time I propose to consider Shakespeare from more than one point of view—­first as a poet in general, then as compared with poets ancient and modern, and finally, as a strictly dramatic poet.  I shall endeavor to show what effect the imitation of his art has produced upon us and what effect it is capable of producing in general.  I shall voice my agreement with what has already been said by repeating it upon occasion, but shall express my dissent positively and briefly, without involving myself in a conflict of opinions.  Let us, then, take up the first point.

I

SHAKESPEARE AS A POET IN GENERAL