The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern TimesBiese, Alfred
History
The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times
Biese, Alfred
Nature; Nature in literature
[Footnote 16: Chovelius.]
[Footnote 17: Daniel Lohenstein's _Blumen_. Breslau, 1689.]
CHAPTER IX
[Footnote 1: Freiherr von Ditfurth, _Deutsche Volks und
Gesellschaftslieder des 17 und 18 Jahrhunderts_, 1872.]
[Footnote 2: Goedeke-Tittmannschen Sammlung, xiii.,
_Trutz-Nachtigall._]
[Footnote 3: _Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur_.]
[Footnote 4: Tittmann's _Deutsche Dichter des 17 Jahrhunderts_, vol.
vi.]
[Footnote 5: Comp., too, iv. 5: 'Die ihr alles hört und saget, Luft
and Forst und Meer durchjaget; Echo, Sonne, Mond, und Wind, Sagt mir
doch, wo steckt mein Kind?'
21. 'Den sanften West bewegt mein Klagen, Es rauscht der Bach den
Seufzern nach Aus Mitleid meiner Plagen; Die Vögel schweigen, Um nur
zu zeigen Dass diese schöne Tyrannei Auch Tieren überlegen sei.'
_Abendlied_ contains beautiful personifications: 'Der Feierabend ist
gemacht, Die Arbeit schläft, der Traum erwacht, Die Sonne führt die
Pferde trinken; Der Erdkreis wandert zu der Ruh, Die Nacht drückt ihm
die Augen zu, Die schon dem süssen Schlafe winken.']
[Footnote 6: Hettner, _Litteraturgeschichte des 18 Jahrhunderts_.]
[Footnote 7: Lappenberg in _Zeitschrift für Hamburgische Geschichte_,
ii. Hettner, _op. cit._]
[Footnote 8: 'Ye fields and woods, my refuge from the toilsome world
of business, receive me in your quiet sanctuaries and favour my
Retreat and thoughtful Solitude. Ye verdant plains, how gladly I
salute ye! Hail all ye blissful Mansions! Known Seats! Delightful
Prospects! Majestick Beautys of this earth, and all ye rural Powers
and Graces! Bless'd be ye chaste Abodes of happiest Mortals who here
in peaceful Innocence enjoy a Life unenvy'd, the Divine, whilst with
its bless'd Tranquility it affords a happy Leisure and Retreat for
Man, who, made for contemplation and to search his own and other
natures, may here best meditate the cause of Things, and, plac'd
amidst the various scenes of Nature, may nearer view her Works. O
glorious Nature! supremely fair and sovereignly good! All-loving and
All-lovely All-Divine! Whose looks are so becoming, and of such
infinite grace, whose study brings such Wisdom, and whose
contemplation such Delight.... Since by thee (O Sovereign mind!) I
have been form'd such as I am, intelligent and rational; since the
peculiar Dignity of my Nature is to know and contemplate Thee; permit
that with due freedom I exert those Facultys with which thou hast
adorn'd me. Bear with my ventrous and bold approach. And since not
vain Curiosity, nor fond Conceit, nor Love of aught save Thee alone,
inspires me with such thoughts as these, be thou my Assistant, and
guide me in this Pursuit; whilst I venture thus to tread the
Labyrinth of wide Nature, and endeavour to trace thee in thy Works.']
[Footnote 9: Comp. Jacob von Falke, '_Der englische Garten_' (_Nord
und Süd_, Nov. 1884), and his _Geschichte des modernen Geschmacks_.]
[Footnote 10: _Dessins des édifices, meubles, habits, machines, et
utensils des Chinois_, 1757.]
CHAPTER X
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