Johann Spurzheim

“ Johann stamped his foot.
“I know you,” he exclaimed bitterly. “You talk of liberty and brotherhood, and yet you calmly stand by and see the sacrifice of the only king who ever showed himself ready to serve the cause of liberty and brotherhood. What are your real motives? Not love of the principles you proclaim so loudly! Not love of the people! But blind hatred for a name.”
“Stop!” It was Schwartz who raised his voice harshly over the angry murmur arising in the hall. “If you have been blinded and deceived, we have not. ”

“ For some time after the parting words of the girl, Maximilian and his companion walked on in silence. Johann saw that the King was profoundly affected by what he had just listened to, and did not venture to disturb his reflections. At length Maximilian raised his head, and gave utterance to the thoughts of his mind.
“She is right, Johann. There are some things beyond my power, or yours, to alter. We may change social conditions, we may care for men’s health, we may add to the comfort of their lives ”

“ It is peace of heart I need for my cure, Johann, and not the skill of the leech. Depart then, good Johann, and go to Horsheim. There thou wilt easily learn who is the countess's betrothed. And thou mayest even, without being perceived, see them pass by together, speaking low, walking hand in hand, believing themselves alone. Thou wilt return and tell me all, Johann, and I will gain strength to live until thy return; for it would be too bitter to die if Otho remaineth faithful. ”

“ And glancing at Maximilian, he quoted in English—
“The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
Let no such man be trusted.”
The King could not restrain a smile; but he saw that the republican was annoyed, and hastened to change the subject.
“I want to lose no time, as you see, in acting on my promise,” he said, addressing Johann. “You convinced me yesterday that I was a bad king; now I want you to tell me how to become a better one.”
Johann had been rubbed the wrong way by Bernal’s ill-disguised sarcasm. ”

“ To his relief his former comrade had said but little when they were again together.
“You see, Karl,” he observed sarcastically, “your fears were groundless. Everything has passed off well, and you will not lose your head, after all.”
“Swear that you will never let the King know who it was that brought you into the gallery,” urged the other, still filled with apprehension.
Johann regarded him pityingly.
“Poor fool! If you have forgotten the oaths by which we bound ourselves at Stuttgart, I have not. Fear nothing; you are safe this time. But beware how you hatch any further treachery. ”

“ This time the Socialist was fairly staggered. But strange as the suggestion sounded, it was difficult for him to think of any valid reason for rejecting it. On [195] the contrary, it might be that such a step would be most desirable, by committing the King irrevocably, and giving the revolutionary party a stronger hold upon him than the mere private compact which bound him to Johann personally.
He turned the matter over in his mind, and it ended in his procuring a card of membership for Maximilian, which enrolled him as a member of the Socialist League, under the name of Karl Josef. ”

“ Then Johann spoke again—
“After all, we do not really ask very much of you. In enterprises of this kind a faint-hearted ally is more dangerous than an enemy. All I want of you is to place me somewhere where I may meet the King. You can go where you like, and no one need know that you were concerned in the affair.”
“What is it that you mean to do?” demanded Karl sullenly.
For answer Johann thrust his hand into an inner pocket of his coat, and produced a pistol, at the sight of which the other man recoiled, with a fresh cry. ”

“ Johann drew himself up, and an incredulous smile came upon his lips.
“So that is it!” he cried scornfully. “As long as a king wastes his substance and the hard-earned taxes of his subjects in any sort of frivolous pleasure and riot, he is perfectly sound and sane; but the moment he begins to take an interest in the people, the moment he begins to make any practical attempt to better their lot, then, [243] in your opinion, he is going mad! ”

“ The national constitution, which was actually adopted by the Frankfurt parliament, making Prussia the leading power, was therefore to the Austrian court an abomination. The liberalism of the Archduke Johann may originally have been ever so genuine—certain it is that he had the monarchical interest in general, and the Austrian interest in particular, more at heart than the national constitution and German unity. ”

“ You were afraid of him, but now you have the insolence to attack King Maximilian, who is too good for you. Don’t let me catch you in any of your seditious practices [32] here, that’s all, or the King shall hear of it, as sure as my name’s Franz Gitten.”
The forester spoke bitterly. There is no hatred like the hatred of the favoured servant for those who would enfranchise him against his will. Johann frowned as though he were about to make some angry reply, when Dorothea laid a gentle hand upon his arm, and looked up beseechingly in his face. ”

“ Maximilian looked at him in some consternation. This was the first time that Johann had expounded this part of the doctrines of his sect, and the new disciple was somewhat taken aback.
“Is that part of the Socialist programme?” he asked. “Do your friends aim at abolishing marriage and the family?”
“I will not go so far as to say that it is a recognised item in our programme,” was the answer. “Many Socialists are not educated up to these views, and others regard them as something that can better be dealt with at a later stage, after we have brought about the economical freedom of society. ”

“ Mozart as a boy had exhibited marvellous powers, and his performances in public at an early age were attended by success. Johann, therefore, seemed to think that his little son would have a chance of earning money by his forced capacities for music. That a child of such tender years should have been regarded in the light of a bread-winner for the family appears unreasonable and hard; and it is not to be wondered at that Ludwig failed to understand the necessity which led to such pressure being put upon him. ”

“ Johann and Dorothea are married, and dwell together peacefully in an ancient German city. The ardent reformer keeps to his old ideal, but his methods of working for it have greatly changed. He now believes that till his fellow-countrymen are of one mind as to the value of freedom, it is idle to try and thrust a republic upon them by force; and that when they are of one mind the republic will come of its own accord. He has founded a newspaper, in which he preaches his social gospel, in language sobered by the experiences he has gone through.
The Count von Eisenheim still holds the Regency. ”

“ Finally Johann had taken him into the Lower House of the Legislature, having secured a pass from a member of the Extreme Left who was secretly in touch with the revolutionists.
They found the Chamber in a state of unusual excitement over the anticipated visit of the Imperial Kaiser. It had been intimated that only a limited number of the deputies could be admitted to the public ceremony of reception, and this snub had been the signal for a storm of indignation which was at its height when Maximilian entered the gallery. ”

“ In this occupation he was interrupted by Bernal, who had discovered him from a window, and come out on purpose to have a conversation with him. Johann had not yet got over his first repugnance to the composer, and greeted his approach with a marked lack of cordiality.
But Bernal was not to be rebuffed. He resolutely engaged with the Socialist, and quickly brought him to the subject which was uppermost in his own mind.
“My friend King Maximilian seems to be a good deal harassed by what has been happening lately,” he said. “He has told me all about his adventures in Mannhausen.” ”

“ It is currently reported that he has been staying in the Castle of Neustadt, and that though he went there with an object which some of us may not have approved, he is now high in the favour of the King. It is naturally difficult for us to reconcile this with his continued membership of our body; but we are Socialists, and we judge no man unheard. Before we proceed with the ordinary business of the meeting, therefore, I deem it right to call upon comrade Johann Mark for an explanation, and I ask all present to give him a fair hearing. ”

“ His residence with Schober lasted only six months, at the end of which time Schober's brother came to reside with him, and Schubert had to give up his room. Teaching was entirely distasteful to him, as we know; yet we can well understand that the pressure of circumstances alone may have [293] compelled him to accept, in the summer of 1818, an engagement as music-teacher in the family of Count Johann Esterhazy. The terms of this engagement were that he should spend the summer months with the family at their seat at Zelész, in Hungary, returning with them to Vienna for the winter. ”

“ Unger was one of Schubert's friends, and recommended him to Count Johann Esterhazy in 1818, so that his daughter must have been brought up in the midst of music. She was trained by no meaner singers than Aloysia Lange, Mozart's sister-in-law, and Vogl, Schubert's friend and best interpreter, [1] and is said to have made her début at Vienna, Feb. 24, 1821, in 'Così fan tutte.' Early in 1824 Sontag and she came into contact with Beethoven in studying the soprano and contralto parts of his Mass in D and Choral Symphony. ”

“ When therefore we characterise the Sophist as one who builds up phantasms for realities — who presents to us what is not, as being like to what is, and as a false substitute for what is — he will ask us what we mean? ”

“ With a joyful heart, he went to the court of the Countess Richilda; intoxicated with delight, he threw himself at her feet; and when she looked on the splendid man, for whom her heart had so long sighed, she felt indescribable pleasure, and from that hour swore to the knight the vow of fidelity. In the sweet passion of joy, in the choicest delights, days and years passed along, like a happy day-dream. ”

“ At the same time, in opposition to Grote, he maintains that the appearance of the sophists marked a new departure, in so far as they were the first professors of “higher education” as such; that they agreed in the rejection of “philosophy”; that the education which they severally gave was open to criticism, inasmuch as, with the exception of Socrates, they attached too much importance to the form, too little to the matter, of their discourses and arguments; that humanism, rhetoric, politic and disputation were characteristic not of all sophists collectively, but of sections of the profession ”

“ Think what you please!" And he rose, with an effort, to his feet. "I know what YOU think!" he added to Miss Searle.
The wheels of the carriage resounded on the gravel, and at the same moment a footman descended with our two portmanteaux. Mr. Tottenham followed him with our hats and coats.
"Good God," our host broke out again, "you're not going away?"-- an ejaculation that, after all that had happened, had the grandest comicality. "Bless my soul," he then remarked as artlessly, "of course you're going!" ”

“ Then, clearly, we ought as soon as possible to divide the image-making art, and go down into the net, and, if the Sophist does not run away from us, to seize him according to orders and deliver him over to reason, who is the lord of the hunt, and proclaim the capture of him; and if he creeps into the recesses of the imitative art, and secretes himself in one of them, to divide again and follow him up until in some sub-section of imitation he is caught. For our method of tackling each and all is one which neither he nor any other creature will ever escape in triumph. ”

“ But perhaps no great artist was ever so utterly wrapped up in himself as Spohr. What he could not measure by the standard of his own peculiar talent, to him was not measurable. Hence his complete absence of critical power, a quality which in many other cases has proved to be by no means inseparable from creative talent.
Although his stay at Vienna was on the whole very successful, and did much to raise his reputation, he left it in 1815, after having quitted his appointment on account of disagreements with the manager of the theatre. ”

“ His repeated promises confirm her hopes: embraces and endearments, which increase the ardour of her desires, overmaster her soul. She floats in a dim, delusive anticipation of her happiness; and her feelings become excited to their utmost tension. She stretches out her arms finally to embrace the object of all her wishes and her lover forsakes her. Stunned and bewildered, she stands upon a precipice. All is darkness around her. No prospect, no hope, no consolation—forsaken by him in whom her existence was centred! ”

“ In fine Spohr's works reveal to us a man who was deficient in personal force because he was not a creative genius, but who exerted all the influence of an original mind upon his contemporaries because he was wholly at heart and almost wholly in practice in touch with a movement new and absorbing. If Spohr had possessed real creative genius, his devotion to Mozart as a model would have dwindled before the incitements of the movement toward national romanticism which was agitating German literature and art. ”