Zriny is an abortive copy of Wallenstein; his originality consists in doing for the Emperor, what the latter does against him.  Juranitsch is Max Piccolomini the second, but has the misfortune to stand as far below the first as other people who also happened to be seconds, as for example, Frederick the Second, Joseph the Second, etc., stood above their namesakes.  In general, Zriny has made it clear to me that Koerner, had he lived, would, without any doubt, have become a second Schiller, namely, by completely absorbing the first.  The plagiarisms which the noble young man has indulged in, in this tragedy, as regards the disposition of the scenes as well as in whole individual speeches and sentences, surpass all belief.  I shall perhaps point out some of these in the course of my investigation of the characters.

But before I investigate the claims to heroism of Koerner’s Zriny may I be allowed to determine what are the qualities absolutely indispensable for a hero.  I will not place my demands very high, but circumspection and firmness I may at least be allowed to require, besides mere courage.  Also a certain amount of modesty would not become him ill, perhaps we may even demand this of the hero of a drama; for the dramatic poet must not indeed in any sense idealize, but he should render only the genuinely human, not the purely accidental, which, because accidental, is rare.  For an individual to be at the same time a hero and a braggart is, however, quite accidental, and the result merely of a deficient or a perverted education.  If one wishes to find firmness in the fact that a man knows in advance what he wants, that he forms his decision before he is acquainted with the controlling circumstances, then certainly this quality cannot be denied our Zriny.

  “His loyalty no nobler guerdon asks
  Than to seek death, a joyful sacrifice,
  For his own folk and his undying faith.”

But it seems to me that a desperate resolution is only justifiable when it can no longer be avoided; whoever takes one before that, is cowardly rather than brave; for he has not the strength to make the sacrifice at the proper moment; therefore he tries, beforehand, to reason himself into being courageous.  When Zriny, however, speaks the words quoted, he has already in his possession the letter of the Emperor, informing him that he need hope for no relief; but he cannot know yet how long Soliman will continue to assault Szigeth, and there is likewise no need to inspire his companions with courage by these words, in which he boasts of his own courage, for they were every one of them heroes.  I fail, therefore, to find in his braggadocio the firmness that is worthy of a great man, and this is a fault which I may be permitted to charge to Mr. Koerner’s account; for he intended it to form part of his Zriny’s character.  The dear man has an even smaller share of circumspection:  read but the sixth scene of