O little bird, to sing 'tis thine, gently to the lark began; I set thee free, that deed is mine; We all must pray as best we can. [4] A. de Reumont: _Aus König Fr. Wilhelm IV. gesunden und kranken Tagen.--Briefe Alex. v. Humboldt's an Varnhagen von Ense.--Varnhagen von Ense's Tagebücher_.--Hillebrand: _Zeiten, Völker und Menschen II_. [5] All that is going on makes me as stupid as if a mill-wheel (a Freiligrath) were turning in my head. [6] "_Geibel_: Is this you? _Freiligrath_: Yes! will you recognise me? Truly it is I; servants now call me brother, yet I am the poet Freiligrath. [7] Schmidt-Weissenfels: _Freiligrath._ XXVI POLITICAL POETRY, PHILOSOPHICAL REVOLUTION In Anastasius Grün's (Count Alexander von Auersperg's) volume, _Spaziergänge eines Wiener Poeten_ ("Walks of a Viennese Poet"), there is a poem, the title and the refrain of which is: Why? When new prohibitory enactments are pasted on the notice-board at the town-hall, a little man comes and reads them and quietly asks: Why? When the priests from their pulpits groan and howl at the sunlight, he asks: Why? When men go out to fight sparrows with halberts and spears, and use cannons to shoot larks, he asks: Why? And when they try, condemn, and execute himself, from his very grave is heard the question: Why? Something of this kind happened in Germany as soon as the patriarchal faith in monarchy was thoroughly shaken. When an act of violence, or a stupid act, or a subterfuge on the part of the Government killed a hope, out of the grave of that hope grew a Why. And every Why gave birth to others. The four questions of the East-Prussian were inadequate now; questions grew and multiplied like those invisible but dangerous animals which in an incredibly short time can undermine an organism. Why revere? Why trust? Why endure? And, first and foremost, why keep silence? When they are going to shake off the yoke, men begin by refusing to bear it silently. Suffering and wrath, desire and longing, now found vent in words, in song.