_; his continuous editorial work upon the journal,
_Fireside Conversations_, from 1849 until the appearance of his other
great contemporary novel, _The Magician of Rome_, 1858-61; his attack of
insanity under the strain of ill health in 1865 and unsuccessful attempt
at suicide; and, finally, his rapidly declining health and frequent
change of residence from Berlin to Italy, thence to Heidelberg, and from
there to Sachsenhausen, near Frankfurt-on-the-Main, and his tragic death
there, either intentional or accidental, in the night of December
fifteenth, 1878, when under the influence of chloral he upset the
candle, by the light of which he had been reading, and perished in the
stifling fumes of the burning room.

This bare outline recalls the personality and career of the best single
embodiment of the spirit of Young Germany. His humble birth, unusual
grasp of intellect, and ambition to secure an adequate education brought
him into early touch with alert representatives of the educated middle
classes, who were the keenest and most consistent critics of the
political, social, and ecclesiastical reaction which gripped German life
at that time. Menzel's student connection with the Jena
_Burschenschaft_, his early published protest against the emptiness of
recent German literature, and his polemic, entitled _German Literature_,
and aimed at the imitators of Goethe and at Goethe's own lack of
interest in German unification, attracted young Gutzkow, who had also
been a member of the _Burschenschaft_, and prompted him to write and
publish in his student paper a defense of Menzel against his critics.
This led Menzel to invite Gutzkow to Stuttgart and to propose a
cooeperation which could be but short-lived; for Menzel was timid and
vacillating, whereas Gutzkow was sincere, courageous, and consistent.
This steadfastness and singleness of purpose, combined with a remarkable
power to appreciate, adopt, and express the leading thoughts and
aspirations of his own time, make Gutzkow the most efficient leader of
the whole group. Heine was, as already noted, too much of a Romanticist
to be a thorough-going Young German. Besides, he lacked the sincerity
and the enthusiastic conviction which dedicated practically every work
of Karl Gutzkow to the task of restoring the proper balance between
German literature and German life. Gutzkow felt that literature had, in
the hands of the Romanticists, abandoned life to gain a fool's paradise.
After