the composition of which had engaged his attention
for five or six years. The latter work, which
proved to be his most popular, was refused by three
publishers, and when eventually it was accepted by
Hayn of Berlin, the author only received ten free
copies of his work as payment. It is from this
book that all except one of the following essays have
been selected; the exception is “The Metaphysics
of Love,” which appears in the supplement of
the third book of his principal work. The second
edition of Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung
appeared in 1844, and was received with growing appreciation.
Hitherto he had been chiefly known in Frankfort as
the son of the celebrated Johanna Schopenhauer; now
he came to have a following which, if at first small
in numbers, were sufficiently enthusiastic, and proved,
indeed, so far as his reputation was concerned, helpful.
Artists painted his portrait; a bust of him was made
by Elizabeth Ney. In the April number of the
Westminster Review for 1853 John Oxenford, in
an article entitled “Iconoclasm in German Philosophy,”
heralded in England his recognition as a writer and
thinker; three years later Saint-Rene Taillandier,
in the Revue des Deux Mondes, did a similar
service for him in France. One of his most enthusiastic
admirers was Richard Wagner, who in 1854 sent him
a copy of his Der Ring der Nibelungen, with
the inscription “In admiration and gratitude.”
The Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzic
offered a prize for an exposition and criticism of
his philosophical system. Two Frenchmen, M. Foucher
de Careil and M. Challemel Lacour, who visited Schopenhauer
during his last days, have given an account of their
impressions of the interview, the latter in an article
entitled, “Un Bouddhiste Contemporain en Allemagne,”
which appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes
for March 15th, 1870. M. Foucher de Careil gives
a charming picture of him:—
“Quand je le vis, pour la premiere fois, en 1859, a la table de l’hotel d’Angleterre, a Francfort, c’etait deja un vieillard, a l’oeil d’un bleu vif et limpide, a la levre mince et legerement sarcastique, autour de laquelle errait un fin sourire, et dont le vaste front, estompe de deux touffes de cheveux blancs sur les cotes, relevait d’un cachet de noblesse et de distinction la physionomie petillante d’esprit et de malice. Les habits, son jabot de dentelle, sa cravate blanche rappelaient un vieillard de la fin du regne de Louis XV; ses manieres etaient celles d’un homme de bonne compagnie. Habituellement reserve et d’un naturel craintif jusqu’a la mefiance, il ne se livrait qu’avec ses intimes ou les etrangers de passage a Francfort. Ses mouvements etaient vifs et devenaient d’une petulance extraordinaire dans la conversation; il fuyait les discussions et les vains combats de paroles, mais c’etait pour mieux jouir du charme d’une causerie intime. Il possedait et parlait avec une egale perfection quatre langues: