genuine heroism to be indicated clearly in the expressed purpose, the thoughtful resolve, and then realized by entire self-devotion. and voluntary martyrdom. Such a course seems to include all the elements of the heroic character, and leave not the faint shadow of a doubt of a grand moral reality.

There is a courage of temperament which man shares with the inferior animals; that which leads the stag to stand at bay, the steed to rush into battle, and the mastiff and game-cock to lose the sense of safety in the vindictiveness of a contest. There is a courage of the imagination born of visions of glory, the zest of adventure, and the love of excitement; and there is a courage of the will, the calm resolve of valor inspired by patriotism or duty, and thoughtfully adopted after mature reflection. In proportion to the danger incurred, the personal advantage relinquished, and the consistency of its aim, is this latter species of courage to be estimated. It is this which essentially constitutes the hero; it is an element of character, not an impulse of feeling; it is the product of the soul, not of mere physical superiority; and exalts humanity by intensifying her active powers with the concentration of intelligent moral purpose.

Theodore Körner thus more completely realized this ideal of the youthful hero than any character of modern times; or rather left behind him the most authentic evidence and beautiful memorials of its reality. For, without reference to the mere facts of his life, we have the two most impressive revelations of his nature the written thought and the noble achievement; the sentiment calmly yet earnestly expressed, and its practical embodiment; the motive and the deed to attest the hero; feeling shaping itself into deliberate action. We have successively the man, the poet, the soldier, and the martyr; and it is this unity of development that renders Körner's career almost unique. That the views he adopted were not the offspring of a heated imagination; that the sentiments he professed arose from a deeper source than the hot blood of youth; that he was perfectly conscious of all he risked, and quite aware of the sacrifice he offered, is apparent from his literary productions, his conversations, letters, and consistent behavior. His education was singularly adapted to develop, at once, mental energy and the gentlest affec

tions; it encouraged physical strength and aptitude, and the highest moral aspiration; and hence he was capable of estimating for himself both the claims of duty and the charms of pleasure. The very atmosphere of his childhood was intellectual; his father, although ostensibly devoted to jurisprudence, was a man of the warmest literary sympathies and the highest culture: while his mother was the daughter of an artist. Schiller and Goëthe were their intimate friends. The former wrote Don Carlos in the elder Körner's house; and not the least pleasing chapters in the lives of both authors are those which record anecdotes of this early intercourse, and the correspondence to which it led.

Young Körner's first recollections are associated with the cottage in a vineyard, endeared to the three illustrious friends. His infancy was feeble, and he was, therefore, encouraged to practise manly exercises, in which he soon became an adept, having few equals among his companions in fencing and swimming. He was a most graceful equestrian and dancer, and excelled in gymnastic feats. To this admirable physical training, so essential to the martial hero, were added the accomplishments of musician and draughtsman. This early instruction was derived altogether from private tuition. Habitual exposure to the open air, and the influence of nature as well as the highest social intercourse, combined to invigorate and refine the capabilities of his soul. But judicious and comprehensive as was his education, it only accounts in part for the noble bias of his character. He very soon manifested the most decided tastes and aims, and the instinctive, far more than the acquired, moulded his destiny. Strength of mind and firmness of purpose, tenderness of heart and loyal attachments, soon gave promise of a characteristic life ; while an appreciation of science and a facility of versification. were equally obvious mental distinctions - the one giving vent to his enthusiasm and sentiment, and the other discipline and scope to his intellect.

Doubtless this need of an active life on the one hand, and mental exercise on the other, induced his first choice of a profession, which was that of mining; and his mineralogical and chemical studies were followed under Werner, at Freyburg,

where Humboldt first entered upon his illustrious career. At home the companionship of his sister and her friends called out his gentle sympathies and delicate tastes, while that of his father's literary coteries elicited his noblest intelligence; summer excursions made him familiar with the most beautiful scenery of his country; and thus we have, as it were, a complete, though informal system of life, amply fitted to educate a poet and hero. It is remarkable that singular vivacity of temperament and facility of adaptation alternated, under these influences, with a solemn earnestness of character. In his boyhood and first youth Körner was lively, but never frivolous; he engaged with similar alacrity in the most sportive and most severe occupations; soon became a social favorite, and yet retained the nature of a contemplative enthusiast. His dislike of the French, the profound melancholy induced by the loss of an intimate friend, who was drowned, and a quick sense of honor, are traits vividly remembered by his earli

est associates.

His first religious pieces seem to have been inspired during a foot excursion amid the scenery of Silesia. At the Berlin academy, whither he was sent after some years of varied teaching at home, Körner was engaged in a duel; and the impetuosity of his nature, combined with the strongest poetical tendencies, led his father to assent to his removing to Vienna, where he was cordially received by William Humboldt and Schlegel. His rashness of spirit having become subdued by a protracted fever, and his domestic sympathies revived by a pleasant sojourn with his family at Carlsbad, he exchanged college for metropolitan life, in a state of mind peculiarly fitted to render it both useful and happy. His cheerful temper, fine personal appearance, poetical reputation, and good birth, gave him every advantage at the outset of his brief yet brilliant career at the capital; but these only served him as the initiative steps of fame; and, after supporting himself for some months by means of his scientific attainments, he began to write for the stage. He was not less fortunate in the kind of discipline to which his boyhood was subjected. This was voluntary. He was never thwarted; his reason, his honor, and his tastes, were appealed to, and his will thus conciliated. To the absence of fear in youth we ascribe the manly freedom of his

nature. The only authority claimed over him was that of love. His parents were companions not less than guides; they respected his idiosyncrasies, and only sought to keep him in true relations with nature, humanity, and God. Hence his faults were always those of excess, never of calculation; he was sometimes rash, but knew not a mean instinct; and the freshness and energy of his soul were preserved intact. Education only ripened and called out original endowments.

The spirit of enjoyment is more active at Vienna than in any city of Germany. If its libraries, museums, and galleries of art, give it intellectual character, its Prater, thronged with recreating groups, including every class, from the emperor to the humblest citizen, and boasting the richest corso in Europe, the prevalence of music as a pastime, the number of theatres, and the social taste of the people, render Vienna the centre of genial and varied life; while the devotees of art or letters often pursue their respective objects at Leipsic or Frankfort with isolated enthusiasm and earnest individuality, the tendency of the social atmosphere and prosperous activity at Vienna is to make the artist or man of letters an efficient and sympathetic intelligence, inspired by and giving impulse to the circles of fashion, taste, and conviviality. There lived Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; and, if their deeper revelations were born in the solitude of their own consciousness and the intensity of thoughtful emotion, doubtless the zest of life and the human interest around them yielded some of the mystic threads which link their harmonies to the universal heart. Into this enjoyable sphere Körner brought not only his own rare endowments of mind and character, but the prestige of good conversation and attractive manners. To feel the high and pleasurable excitement of writing successfully for the stage at this period, and in such a metropolis as Vienna, we must remember that the theatre was the central point of interest to all classes, the theme of enlightened criticism, the object of tasteful appreciation. Those who illustrated its power, in any department, with real genius, were sure, not only of professional rewards, but of social estimation. The theatre was peculiarly a national institution, and a fashionable and literary nucleus endeared by habit, association, and sympathy, to the most cultivated and respected, as well as

the pleasure-loving citizens. The seeds of thought and sentiment in the mind of young Körner seemed to flower, all at once, in the encouraging sphere, and amid the inviting intercourse here opened to him.

His first efforts were light two-act pieces written in Alexandrines, of which the "Bride" and the "Green Domino" had such success that he began soon to meditate a more elaborate and finished production. At this era his time passed in a delightful alternation of study and society; idolized in the latter, he brought to the former all the ardent and noble feeling and facility of expression which characterized his nature; and while the one elicited his sportive and companionable graces, the other gave impulse to the more intense and thoughtful moods of his soul. An immediate and intelligent appreciation, like that which awaits the successful dramatic author in Germany, and the social privileges and sympathy awarded him in Vienna, naturally excited the enthusiasm of Körner, and, when he was appointed poet to the theatre, his fortune and position were truly eminent; but ambition was only a secondary inspiration, for two sentiments glowed in his heart, and gave the utmost eloquence to his expression. He was a genuine patriot and lover; and at this brilliant epoch,, the companionship of his betrothed, the ardent devotion of his friends, and the new-born spirit of liberty that stirred the breasts of his countrymen, all united to quicken and evoke his genius. Time has proved that its most legitimate offspring was lyrical poetry. The directness, harmony, and spontaneous origin, of this kind of verse, accorded with the frank earnestness of his character, and more faithfully mirrored his inward life than the elaborate and studied drama. Yet one remarkable triumph in the latter style he soon achieved.

The tragedy of Zriny, whatever may be its imperfections as a work of art, is memorable as the composition of a youth, and as the deliberate record of his most profound sentiments. The period of this play is 1566, and the action is first at Belgrade, and then in and before the Hungarian fortress of Sigeth, which is heroically defended by Nicholas Von Irving, against Soliman. Lorenzo Juranitsch, the former's lieutenant, is the betrothed of his daughter, whose character, as well as that of her mother, are deline