The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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translated it into the same metre would have been incompatible with
a faithful adherence to the sense of the German, from the
comparative poverty of our language in rhymes; and it would have
been unadvisable from the incongruity of those lax verses with
the present taste of the English Public. Schiller’s intention 15
seems to have been merely to have prepared his reader for the
Tragedies by a lively picture of the laxity of discipline, and the
mutinous dispositions of Wallenstein’s soldiery. It is not
necessary as a preliminary explanation. For these reasons it
has been thought expedient not to translate it. 20
The admirers of Schiller, who have abstracted their conception
of that author from the Robbers, and the Cabal and Love, plays
in which the main interest is produced by the excitement of
curiosity, and in which the curiosity is excited by terrible and
extraordinary incident, will not have perused without some 25
portion of disappointment the Dramas, which it has been my
employment to translate. They should, however, reflect that
these are Historical Dramas, taken from a popular German
History; that we must therefore judge of them in some measure
with the feelings of Germans; or by analogy, with the interest 30
excited in us by similar Dramas in our own language. Few,
I trust, would be rash or ignorant enough to compare Schiller
with Shakspeare yet, merely as illustration, I would say
that we should proceed to the perusal of Wallenstein, not
from Lear or Othello, but from Richard the Second, or the 35
three parts of Henry the Sixth. We scarcely expect rapidity
in an Historical Drama; and many prolix speeches are
pardoned from characters, whose names and actions have
formed the most amusing tales of our early life. On the other
hand, there exist in these plays more individual beauties, 40
more passages the excellence of which will bear reflection,
than in the former productions of Schiller. The description of
the Astrological Tower, and the reflections of the Young Lover,
which follow it, form in the original a fine poem; and my
translation must have been wretched indeed, if it can have 45
wholly overclouded the beauties of the Scene in the first Act of
the first Play between Questenberg, Max, and Octavio Piccolomini.
If we except the Scene of the setting sun in the Robbers,
I know of no part in Schiller’s Plays which equals the whole
of the first Scene of the fifth Act of the concluding Play. It 50
would be unbecoming in me to be more diffuse on this subject.
A Translator stands connected with the original Author by
a certain law of subordination, which makes it more decorous
to point out excellencies than defects: indeed he is not likely
to be a fair judge of either. The pleasure or disgust from his 55
own labour will mingle with the feelings that arise from an
afterview of the original. Even in the first perusal of a work
in any foreign language which we understand, we are apt to
attribute to it more excellence than it really possesses from our
own pleasurable sense of difficulty overcome without effect. 60
Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the
Translator must give a brilliancy to his language without that warmth
of original conception, from which such brilliancy would follow
of its own accord. But the translator of a living Author is
encumbered with additional inconveniences. If he render his 65
original faithfully, as to the sense of each passage, he must
necessarily destroy a considerable portion of the spirit; if he
endeavour to give a work executed according to laws of
compensation, he subjects himself to imputations of vanity, or
misrepresentation. I have thought it my duty to remain 70
bound by the sense of my original, with as few exceptions as
the nature of the languages rendered possible.
Title] Part Second. The Death of Wallenstein. A Tragedy. The Death of
Wallenstein. Preface of the Translator. 1828, 1829.
[After 72] S. T. Coleridge 1800, 1828, 1829.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces
in the Thirty Years’ War.
DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND, Wife of Wallenstein.
THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland.
THE COUNTESS TERTSKY, Sister of the Duchess.
LADY NEUBRUNN.
OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General.
MAX PICCOLOMINI, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers.
COUNT TERTSKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and Brother-in-law
of Wallenstein.
ILLO, Field Marshal, Wallenstein’s confidant.
BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a Regiment of Dragoons.
GORDON, Governor of Egra.
MAJOR GERALDIN.
CAPTAIN DEVEREUX.
CAPTAIN MACDONALD.
NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to Tertsky.
SWEDISH CAPTAIN.
SENI.
BURGOMASTER of Egra.
ANSPESSADE of the Cuirassiers.
GROOM OF THE CHAMBER, } belonging to the Duke.
A PAGE, }
CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, SERVANTS.
ACT I
SCENE I
SCENE — A Chamber in the House of the DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND.
COUNTESS TERTSKY, THEKLA, LADY NEUBRUNN (the two latter sit at the same
table at work).
Countess (watching them from the opposite side). So you have
nothing, niece, to ask me? Nothing?