Schiller, finely matured, had not attended many performances, when his active mind, considering the situation and taking a comprehensive view of things, got the idea that what had been done to his own works could be done in the case of other men’s. So he drew up a plan whereby the work of earlier playwrights might be preserved for the German theatre, without prejudice to contemporary writers,--the accepted material, the contents of the works chosen, to be adapted to a form which should be partly determined by the requirements of the stage and partly by the ideas and spirit of the present time. For these reasons he decided to devote the hours which were left him from his own work to constructing plans, in company with congenial friends, whereby plays which had a significance for our age might be revised, and a true German Theatre founded,--not only for the benefit of the reader, who would come to know famous plays from a new standpoint, but also for the benefit of the numerous theatres of Germany, which would be given the opportunity of strengthening their repertories by laying a solid foundation of older works under the ephemeral productions of the day. In order then to found the German Theatre on true German soil, it was Schiller’s intention to revise Klopstock’s _Hermanns Schlacht_. The play was taken up, but the first consideration of it produced much doubt in his mind. Schiller’s judgment was in general very liberal, but at the same time independent and critical. The ideal demands which Schiller according to his nature was obliged to make were not satisfied, and the piece was soon laid aside. Present-day criticism requires no hints in order to discover the grounds for the decision. Towards Lessing’s work Schiller had a singular attitude. He did not care particularly for it,--indeed, _Emilia Galotti_ was repugnant to him. Yet this tragedy as well as _Minna von Barnhelm_ was accepted in the repertory. He then devoted himself to _Nathan der Weise_, and in this revision, in which he was glad to have the coöperation of discerning friends, the piece is played to this day, and it will be retained on the boards, because able actors will always be found who feel themselves equal to the rôle of Nathan. And may the German public remember always that it is called not only to witness this well-known piece, so excellently staged, but also to hear it and to understand it! May there never come a time when the divine spirit of toleration and forbearance contained in it will cease to be sacred to the nation.