THE FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW. ART. I.-1. Karl Immermann. Blätter der Erinnerung an ihm. (Leaves in Memory on Karl Immermann.) Edited by FERDINAND FREILIGRATH. Stuttgart: Kralbe. 1842. 2. Münchhausen, eine Geschichte in Arabesken. (Münchhausen, a Tale in Arabesque.) Von KARL IMMERMANN. Düsseldorf: Schaub. 1841. 3. Merlin, eine Mythe (a Mythus). Von KARL IMMERMANN. Dusseldorf: Schaub. 1832. THE recent death of Immermann seems to have raised him to an importance in Germany which he did not enjoy during his lifetime; and if his productions were at one period less noticed than they deserved to be, they are now, if the little book at the head of this article is an index of national feeling, likely to be considerably overrated. Under the superintendence of the poet Freiligrath, a number of enthusiastic admirers have contributed each his mite towards the immortalization of their favourite author; and scraps illustrative of Karl Immermann are collected with the care and earnestness which distinguish the collectors of materials towards the life of Göthe or of Schiller. One tells us what Immermann did at Weimar; Freiligrath himself furnishes a few letters which he received from the deceased; and two critical gentlemen, MM. Kinkel and Schucking, give us a couple of critiques on the Merlin,' which, they inform us, is one of the most wonderful works that ever was penned; and hint pretty broadly, that although, from the time of its publication in 1832, it created no great sensation, it ought by rights to throw 'Faust' into the shade. We fear our readers may not all of them be sufficiently enlightened to know much about Karl Immermann: this great genius, who in 1832 wrote a mythical drama, comprising omnes res, et quædam alia: a perfect system of theology, a perfect VOL. XXXI. NO. LXI. B picture of the exact state of modern man, a demolition of Hegel; and all this in 244 pages of exceedingly crabbed verse. We will, therefore, shortly give the life of the man, before we enter upon his works. Karl Immermann was born at Magdeburg, in the year 1796. He was rigidly brought up by his father, one of the old Prussian school of disciplinarians, who required the utmost industry and obedience. At the age of twelve he wrote birthday poems, and at sixteen had composed a drama called 'Prometheus,' and a romance. His dramatic taste seems to have received the greatest impulse during his sojourn at the University of Halle, when the influence of Göthe was felt at the Weimar theatre. He joined the volunteers of his country, and was present during the whole campaign in the Netherlands, and in France in 1815. Returning to his university, he engaged in a contest against a tyranny of the Burschen, and a work of his, On the Contentions of the Students at Halle,' was burned at the celebrated Wartburg's fest, held on the 18th Oct. 1817. After passing through several offices in the state, he became, in 1827, Landgerichts-rath (counsellor of the provincial court) at Düsseldorf. Surrounded by several young artists and authors, he now entertained the notion of forming a national German theatre; in which notion he was encouraged by the court. The scheme proved a failure, though Immermann was unabating in his energy, and is said to have had the greatest talent as a director. Every means did he try to ensure success; and despairing of the efficacy of poetry and histrionic talent alone, he embellished these with brilliant decorations, and even with transparencies and ballets; but a year included the whole period of his management. His works, most of them dramatic, are very numerous; as a writer, he never seems to have known the sensation of fatigue; and the humorous romance of Münchhausen,' which he wrote not long before his death, is esteemed one of the most vigorous of them all. 6 It is this romance of Münchhausen,' as being the latest of Immermann's productions, and as being, with all its imperfections, a work evincing extraordinary talent, that we propose chiefly to notice in the present article: first slightly touching on the dramatic mythus of Merlin,' simply because the author's admirers place it at the summit of his productions, and boldly call upon all to look and marvel. For our own parts we are courageous enough to own that we do not see much as a work of art in Merlin,' though we shall doubtless draw upon ourselves the aversion and contempt of MM. Kinkel and Schucking by the assertion. The former of these gentlemen is willing to admit that there is a something in the mythus which prevents it being exceedingly popular, and |