PREFACE. ON presenting this second Volume of his edition of Schiller's Works, the Publisher thinks it necessary to say a few words respecting the various translations comprised in it. The HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS, the first portion of which appeared in the former volume, was translated by Lieut. E. B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for the use of students. But this translation, though excellent, was too strictly literal for general reading, and has, therefore, been carefully revised, and some portions entirely re-written, by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison. The CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN is translated by the late Mr. James Churchill, and first appeared in that able miscellany, "Fraser's Magazine;" the proprietor of which, Mr. G. W. Nickisson, has kindly permitted its republication here. It is an exceedingly happy transfusion of what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller's Works. The PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN, which form the second and third parts of this great Dramatic trilogy, are the admirable version of Mr. Coleridge, com pleted by the addition of all those passages which he had omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller's own arrangement of the Acts and Scenes It is said, in defence of the variations which exist between the German original and the version given by Mr. Coleridge, that he translated from a prompter's copy in manuscript, before the Drama had been printed, and that Schiller himself subsequently altered it, omitting some passages, adding others, and even engrafting several of Mr. Coleridge's adaptations. However this may be, the Publisher considers it advisable to give every line of Coleridge's version, without the least alteration, (especially as it contains more than one fine passage not to be found in the printed editions of Schiller,) and to add, in brackets, all those portions (upwards of 250 lines) which have heretofore been omitted. These are chiefly translated by G. F. Richardson, Esq., the translator of the poems of Körner. They will be found at pages 188, 189, 195, 215, 216, 219, 221, 231, 236, 245, 297, 300, 305, 323, 324, 325, 387, 389, and 416. WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., It was intended to include DON CARLOS in the present The Publisher, somewhat in the position of an Editor, has taken considerable pains in superintending this edition of Schiller through the press; but does not pretend to any merit on the score of its literary execution. At the same time, he feels himself responsible for its faults, and in a future edition, will gladly correct any which may be pointed THE ICONOCLASTS.-Civil War.-Resignation of William of Orange.-Decay and Dispersion of the Gueusen League.-Alva's Armament and Expedition to the Netherlands.-Alva's First Measures, and Departure of the Duchess of THE springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is certainly possible, and very probable that the French Protestants did industriously exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for their religion, and to prevent, by all means in their power, an amicable adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that quarter and the King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of their party enough to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression under which they sighed, to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal courses. It is possible, too, that there were many among the confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not otherwise maintain the legal character of their league, unless the unfortunate results, against which they had warned the king, really came to pass; and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own individual criminality. B It is, however, incredible that the outbreak of the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not seem likely, that in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate. Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in its execution altogether, too monstrous. to have been any thing more than the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light, it seemed to flow so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it, that it does not re quire to be traced far back to remount to its origin. A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, rendered brutal by harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town, scared from place to place, and driven almost to despair, were compelled to worship their God, and to hide, like a work of darkness, the universal sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced, here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful secrecy to worship the same Godcast out from civil society into a state of nature, and reminded, in one dread moment, of the rights of that state! The greater their superiority of numbers, the more unnatural did their lot appear-with wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven, the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the occasion calls, no premeditation is necessary, where all eyes at once declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what, the furious band rushes onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; |