ent in providing a relief for
them. With him, strong feeling was constantly a call to vigorous
action: he possessed in a high degree the faculty of conquering his
afflictions, by directing his thoughts, not to maxims for enduring
them, or modes of expressing them with interest, but to plans for
getting rid of them; and to this disposition or habit,--too rare among
men of genius, men of a much higher class than mere sentimentalists,
but whose sensibility is out of proportion with their inventiveness or
activity,--we are to attribute no small influence in the fortunate
conduct of his subsequent life. With such a turn of mind, Schiller,
now that he was at length master of his own movements, could not long
be at a loss for plans or tasks. Once settled at Bauerbach, he
immediately resumed his poetical employments; and forgot, in the
regions of fancy, the vague uncertainties of his real condition, or
saw prospects of amending it in a life of literature. By many safe and
sagacious persons, the prudence of his late proceedings might be more
than questioned; it was natural for many to forbode that one who left
the port so rashly, and sailed with such precipitation, was likely to
make shipwreck ere the voyage had extended far: but the lapse of a few
months put a stop to such predictions. A year had not passed since his
departure, when Schiller sent forth his _Verschwoerung des Fiesco_ and
_Kabale und Liebe_; tragedies which testified that, dangerous and
arduous as the life he had selected might be, he possessed resources
more than adequate to its emergencies. _Fiesco_ he had commenced
during the period of his arrest at Stuttgard; it was published, with
the other play, in 1783; and soon after brought upon the Mannheim
theatre, with universal approbation.

It was now about three years since the composition of the _Robbers_
had been finished; five since the first sketch of it had been formed.
With what zeal and success Schiller had, in that interval, pursued the
work of his mental culture, these two dramas are a striking proof. The
first ardour of youth is still to be discerned in them; but it is now
chastened by the dictates of a maturer reason, and made to animate the
products of a much happier and more skilful invention. Schiller's
ideas of art had expanded and grown clearer, his knowledge of life had
enlarged. He exhibits more acquaintance with the fundamental
principles of human nature, as well as with the circumstances under