of "the current of thought which between 1816 and 1818 took our whole American educational system away from the English tradition, and substituted the German methods." This change Mr. Higginson places to the credit of four men, Cogswell, Everett, Ticknor, and Bancroft. Ticknor and Everett went to Goettingen in 1815, Cogswell in 1816, Bancroft in 1818. None of them was back in this country before 1818. These enthusiastic young men were no doubt strongly imbued with the German idea; but they were young men, and their influence, while relatively greater than that of an equal number of graduate students today, was by no means sufficient to revolutionize American education in a year or two-certainly not before they returned to this country. Mr. Higginson's dates are too early, or his statement is far too inclusive.

As a matter of fact, the literature of this period shows relatively few quotations from German authors, or references to German ideas. The language was little studied. Some of the magazines contain original verses in French and Italian, but none in German. Editors printed versions of German poems and essays which they were not ashamed to admit were retranslations from the French. Henry Adams says:1 "Germany was nearly as unknown as China, until Madame de Staël published her famous work in 1814. Even then young George Ticknor, incited by its account of German university education, could find neither a good teacher, nor a dictionary, nor a German book in the shops or the public libraries of the city or at the college in Cambridge:" Again:2 "Pennsylvania was largely German, and the Moravians were not without learning, yet no trace of German influence showed itself in the educated and literary class. Schiller was at the end of his career, and Goethe at the zenith of his powers; but neither was known in Pennsylvania, unless it might be by translations of the 'Robbers' or the 'Sorrows of Werther."" Biographers of Emerson convey the impression that while at Harvard he was much influenced by Tick

1 History of the United States, i., 94. In the catalogue of Halleck's private library is listed Goethe's Faust, Boston, 1806; but this may have been a translation. Ibid., i., 123. This statement applies to the time about 1800.

nor and Everett; yet in 1824, after he had left college, he wrote to his brother: "Say particularly whether German and Hebrew be worth reading; for though I hate to study them, cordially, I yet will, the moment I can count my gains." Emerson does not seem really to have got into German until about 1829.2

The itineraries of European travelers show the same disregard of Germany. As late as 1826-7, when Longfellow went abroad to fit himself for the professorship of modern languages at Bowdoin, he spent 8 months in France, 8 in Spain, 13 in Italy, and 5 in Germany, visiting the countries in the order named. It is true that he wished to spend a few weeks more in Goettingen, but even had his stay been as long as he planned it, it would not have equalled that in Spain. When we remember the purpose of his visit to Europe, and the hold that Germany had on him when, a few years later, he was writing Outre Mer and Hyperion, these figures are suggestive.

Bryant made his first trip abroad in 1834, just after the close of the period under consideration. His "original intention had been to spend his time chiefly in Spain, by the language and literature of which he was singularly fascinated; but that country was in the midst of one of its chronic convulsions, and he turned his face towards Italy." He passed a much longer time in France and Italy than in Germany, and the only German cities that he visited were Munich and Heidelberg, the latter, in an intellectual way, probably the most cosmopolitan in the country.

Irving's devotion to Spain needs no mention. The example of these men is valuable, because we know their characters, and can allow for any personal bias. Their interests and routes of travel do not seem to have differed much from those of the majority of their countrymen who visited the continent in those years.

1 Cabot, Life of Emerson, i., 109.

Ibid., i., 160.

'S. Longfellow, Life of H. W. Longfellow, Vol. i., Chaps. vii. to xi. inclusive.

4 Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 308.

A few theories may be hazarded as to the preponderance of southern influence over German. In the first place, there was the old political sympathy with France, which naturally led to an interest in the French language and literature. France was most closely connected, both geographically and linguistically, with the southern countries. In the second place, the study of the classics tended then as now, and more strongly then than now, to make every tourist seek Rome, and incidentally the other parts of Italy. In the third place, Irving's interest in Spain during the latter part of the period, drew the attention of students to that country. To his influence was no doubt due much of the fascination that its language and literature had for Bryant. Again, the condition of Germany itself was not such as to attract students. There was no center, no head; the many small independent states were moved against each other by petty jealousies.

Finally, the American mind did not seem quite capable of understanding the German. It was not that the Americans were dull, or shallow, or prosaic; but that from their nature, and their experience, or lack of experience,' they were incapable of feeling what lay at the bottom of the German movement of this time. Nothing indicates this much better than Halleck's remark that Goethe's Faust was "The worst book, in the strongest sense of the word worst, that I have ever read through."

THE CLASSICS.

It has been said that the classics drew attention to Italy. They also had direct influence on literature. Greek and Latin were still looked upon as the basis of a liberal education. Almost every man who made pretensions to culture read them with greater or less ease. The importance of the natural sciences was being recognized, but they were not yet present in the college curriculum to any extent. So long as this was the case, the old notion of culture was bound to stand, in spite of occasional

1 See page 10.

Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 266.

protests from men who could not see the money value in dead languages.

PREVIOUS LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS IN AMERICA.

Although American literature as a connected national development began after the close of the war of 1812, there was already a great mass of American writings, extending from the earliest settlements to the time of the war itself. That the study of these attempts is not entirely uninteresting will be admitted by any one who has read Prof. Tyler's volumes. Still, the student of today finds the subject, though fascinating in the selections and comments of Prof. Tyler, dreary enough in the original documents; and so the readers of an earlier day found it. There were some who felt called upon to worship everything American for purely geographical reasons; but the more discriminating saw that little was to be gained from the native authors who had gone before.

Of the colonial writers, none had much influence. Jonathan Edwards was of course read by theologians, but his writings can hardly be classed as general literature.1 Anne Bradstreet is more interesting as the ancestor of Dana, Channing, Holmes, and Wendell Phillips than as a poet.2 Franklin was indeed read, and exercised a good deal of influence, especially in his own city; and Franklin was a writer of no small literary abilities. Still, his popularity was due largely to his labors in behalf of his country, his interest in scientific matters, and the common-sense practicality of his maxims, which appealed to the shrewd commercial instincts of his countrymen. Franklin's life, by Werner, and the first genuine edition of his works, edited by Temple Franklin, appeared in 1817.3

Charles Brockden Brown, also a Philadelphian, was the first 'American novelist of note, and some tendencies in American fiction had their origin with him. His life, by Dunlap, per

1 See Tyler, History of American Literature, ii., 177. 'Ibid., i., 277.

Whitcomb, Chronological Outlines.

haps the earliest American biography of an American author, was issued in 1815.

Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York appeared in 1809, after which the author was silent ten years, until the publication of the Sketch-Book in 1819. During these ten years his style entirely changed; so that Irving himself may be said to belong to the time under consideration, while this one production is of the earlier period. The influence of this isolated work, however, was great. It was the first American book to receive especial notice abroad; and its success, which was tolerably well-known by 1815, was a great source of encouragement to American writers. From this time on, "Our Own Irving" was always mentioned as an example of what American letters might be.

Bryant was a student of this early literature. In a letter written in 18181 he mentions among the poets that he has read, Dwight, Barlow, Trumbull, Humphrey, Honeywood, Clifton, Paine, Philip Freneau, and Francis Hopkinson; and others with whom he was not familiar, Hopkins, Dr. Ladd, and Dr. Church. In July of the same year he published, in the North American Review, an Essay on American Poetry, a review of recent collection by Solyman Brown. This essay shows the cooler judgment of the time, and even surprises us by its soundness.

Dwight and Trumbull, with whom Bryant heads his list, were members of the group known as The Hartford Wits, which flourished in the earliest years of the century. They attracted much attention for a time, but their fame was unusually shortlived. Other members of the same circle were Hopkins, Strong, Coggswell, and a little later, Mrs. Sigourney.

LITERARY TENDENCIES.

The summary of conditions that has already been given has indicated most of the tendencies that might be expected to operate in the course of literary development. No more need be said of the impulses derived from the classics, or from the ro

1 Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 154.