The other minor writings of the years 1788 and 1789 may be passed over as of little significance. On the poetic side there were three or four occasional poems, and also the rimed epistle called 'The Celebrated Wife', in which the unfortunate husband of a literary lady pours out the tale of his domestic woes. In prose there were several perfunctory reviews contributed to the _Litteratur-Zeitung_, and also an anecdote--exhumed from an old chronicle and retold for the _Merkur_--relating to a breakfast given to the Duke of Alva by the Countess of Schwarzburg in the year 1547. To these may be added, finally, the short story entitled 'Play of Fate,' also published in the _Merkur_, which describes, under a thin disguise of fictitious names, the rise and fall and rehabilitation of Karl Eugen's former minister, P.H. Rieger.[79] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 73: Letter of July 28, 1787, to Körner.] [Footnote 74: Letter of Nov. 19, 1787.] [Footnote 75: In the original, lines 145-8, of the earlier version: Schöne Welt, wo bist du?--Kehre wieder, Holdes Blültenalter der Natur! Ach! nur in dem Feenland der Lieder Lebt noch deine goldne Spur.] [Footnote 76: In the original: Im Fleisz kann dich die Biene meistern, In der Geschicklichkeit ein Wurm dein Lehrer sein, Dein Wissen teilest du mit vorgezogenen Geistern, Die Kunst, O Mensch, hast du allein.] [Footnote 77: Letter of March 17, to Körner.] [Footnote 78: Letter of Oct. 1, 1788, Goethe to Karl August.] [Footnote 79: See above, page 135.] CHAPTER XI Historical Writings Der Mensch verwandelt sich und flieht von der Bühne, seine Meinungen verwandeln sich und fliehen mit ihm; die Geschichte allein bleibt unausgesetzt auf der Bühne, eine unsterbliche Bürgerin aller Nationen und Zeiten.--_First lecture at Jena_. Schiller's merit as a writer of history has been much discussed and very differently estimated by high authorities. In general one may say that his historical writings have fared at the hands of experts very much like the scientific writings of Goethe; both being treated as the rather unimportant incursions of a poet into a field which he had not the training or the patience to cultivate with the best results. Niebuhr's adverse opinion is well known and has often been echoed in one form or another by later critics. On the other hand, lovers of the poet are very apt to overestimate the historian, who would probably be seldom heard of to-day If he had not achieved immortal fame by his plays and poems. As it is, his historical writings have become, for better or worse, a part of the classical literature of Germany, and as such we have to reckon with them.