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200 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
at the fame time they form the imaginary worlds of which they write, after quite a dif-
ferent fyftem from what they praétife, and know how to give their writing a polifh
which they want themfelves. The profefliona] countenances of the Dutch literati, and
the ftudies of the beaux efprits, which came to the King’s notice, could not recommend
German literature much to him ;, doubtlefs the genius of the nation contributed fome-
thing to the preference he gave the French and Italians. ‘the German genius is dull,
and though many of their pieces do not abfolutely /2ink of the lamp, yet you may eafily
obferve that they have come with difficulty from the authors. In confequence of this,
they feldom recommend themfelves as fine writers, even when they are moft entertain-
ing ; for they have not the livelinefs which enables the French and Italians to mark the
remarkable parts of a thing in a minute, and to give a neatnefs to obfervations often
paltry enough in themfelves. Religion is alfo in fome meafure the caufe of this. The
Proteftants are accuftomed to give too great a preference to the ufeful over the agree-
able, and as the Catholics, whofe religion gives the fineft {cope to the powers of wit
and imagination, are in Germany, all plunged in the deepeft barbarity, it is not to be
wondered at that the King choofes, for his hours of recreation, Italian abbés rather than
German paftors, who are often much fuperior to them in real knowledge, but who have
the air of their cathedrals, and are apt to fall into the preaching tone, with which it is
impoflible that the King fhould be pleafed. The fame thing obtains with refpe& to the
writers of German politics and hiftory. In point of truth, and the knowledge of bare
facts, they far furpafs the hiltorians and politicians of all other countries, but they do
not know how to make their heroes fpeak, nor how to give them a beautiful drefs. It
is certainly better to be true and dry, than falfe and witty ; but truth alfo allows itfelf
to be joined with wit, which makes it flip down more glibly. The complaints which
the King makes on-this head, in his effay again{t his countrymen, /ur la Literature Al-
lemande, are certainly well grounded ; but his remarks on the {chools, as well as his
proofs of the want of genius of feveral Dutch writers, are certainly not well chofen.
The hooting of darts as thick as the arm, and the ring on the finger of Time, have been
auniverfally exploded in Germany for the laft twenty years. As to the fchools, in no
country in Europe are they fo flourifhing as in the King’s own dominions. The Gere
mans proceed intirely by rule, and even in things in which they are not calculated to
improve themfelves, they are able to give the beft directions to others. No nation fur-
pafles them in eftimating the produétions of genius. They have given the beit rules
how a hiftory is to be written ; which, however, like all the rules in the univerfe, have
not yet produced a fingle genius. In the mean time, rules and criticifm of authors, is
all that hitherto goes forward in the {chools.
Nothing fo much prevents the progrefs of German genius, as the indifference of the
Princes of Germany to German literature; but on this account, in my opinion, they
deferve no reproach: for if they go on as they have begun for fome time, to encourage
agriculture, to make the arts alive, to improve legiflation and manners, and to pay their
debts ; thefe manly, thefe imperial purfuits, will, as the King well obferves in his eflay
on German literature, contribute more to the happinefs and glory of the nation, than if
their poets and hiftorians eclipfed all thofe of old and modern times, ‘This, however,
is my own private opinion. But when one of the firft princes of Germany reproaches
his countrymen, as the King of Pruffia has done, for not having produced a Virgil, a
Horace, a Tully, a Corneille, a Moliere, a Voltaire, and a Taflo, one would think that
«hey ought to contribute to the progrefs of tafte and Janguage, and to the developement
of genius; whereas I met with no court in Germany, in which a foreign diale& did not
prevail. In all places but Saxony, the immediate followers of the court generally nek
their
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