Friedrich Max Muller was bom on December 6, 1823, in the town of Dessau, now in eastern Germany, but then the capital of a sovereign State, though a very small one Indeed, Anhalt-Dessau was so small that when in the revolutionary days of mid-mneteenthcentury Germany, a troublesome political agitator was expelled from the principality he threatened to break the windows of the ruler’s palace by throwing stones from across the border That would have been, not petty mischief-making, but a very appropriate symbolic gesture, for the Schloss or the ducal palace was the focal point of the life of the whole population of the State, irrespective of class and station The building itself was both old and imposing, with a large quadrangle in front, from which staircases supported by turrets led up to the reception rooms The impression it made on Muller as a boy, he put in the mouth of the young hero of the only story he ever wrote
Not far from our house, and opposite the old church with its golden cross, stood a large building, larger even than the church, and with many towers They, too, looked very grey and old, but there was no golden cross, only stone eagles were placed on the pinnacles, and a great white and blue flag waved from the highest tower, just over the lofty entrance where the steps went up on each side, and where two mounted soldiers kept guard The house had many windows, and through the windows could be seen red silk curtains with golden tassels, and all round the court stood old lime trees, which in summer overshadowed the grey stone walls with their green foliage, and strewed the grass with their fragrant white blossoms I had often looked up there, and at evening, when the limes smelt sweetly and the windows were lighted up, I saw many forms floating here and there like shadows, and music echoed from the palace above, and carriages drove m, from which men and women stepped out and hastened up the steps And they all looked so kind and beautiful, and the men had stars on their breasts, and the women had fresh flowers in their hair, and then I often thought, ‘Why do you not go there also ?’
Though Muller did not accept any identification of the Schloss
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of his stoiy with the ducal palace at Dessau, there can be no doubt that the real castle inspired the description But in offering it he was not whipping into it any worked-up romantic feeling The account was truthful and natural from one who as a child saw the castle as the material embodiment of a historical identity — that of the little principality in which he was born and brought up
This principality was the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau In Max Muller’s time it was ruled by Duke Leopold Friedrich, who succeeded to his inheritance in 1817 and did not die till 1871 Its identity, like that of many such States in Germany, was the product of a long and characteristic political evolution which at the beginning of the nineteenth century left the country with nearly three hundred and fifty petty States in addition to the big ones like Prussia, Saxony or Bavaria Britain and France had, of course, become unitary and centralized politically These principalities were looked upon as a drag on the process of making Germany a national State, and with the exception of some twenty they were all swept away by the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars and the reorganization carried out by the Congress of Vienna That brought down the number of States in the amorphous pan-German political structure from the three hundred and sixty of the Holy Roman Empire abolished in 1806, to the thirty-nine in the Germanic Confederation created in 1815
The Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau was among the few that survived the process and were recognized as constituent sovereign States of the Confederation But even these were considered too many and denounced by the champions of German umty, and more especially by those historians and publicists who wanted the umty to be brought about by Prussia But Max Muller did not share this attitude Though he too was an ardent believer in German umty and m some sense a supporter of the Prussian cause, he did not think that the small German States wholly deserved the contempt and ridicule with which they were treated He admitted that the etiquette kept up by some of the courts and their sense of selfimportance were at times very ludicrous, but he also asserted quite deliberately that without the small principalities ‘German history would often be quite unintelligible, and Germany would never have had so intense a vitality, and would never have become what it is now’
This was putting it strongly, but not uncritically. The piety that
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he felt for his native State, and gave expression to in his reminiscences, did not make him blind A great majority of these States had indeed become completely obsolete, but those that were left intact by the Vienna settlement — which with the exception of the four Fice Cities, were all monarchical — had still left in them some of that vitality which had kept them alive down to the nineteenth century m a line of organic succession from the earliest political organization of the German people The Prussiamzers called these princely States feudalists, and in our time the world of these little kingdoms has been romanticized in fiction under the name of Runtama None of these labels were inappropriate But the reality was quite solid, and, though composite, it had been fused into an organic whole
As seen in the early nineteenth century, this princely order was showing the latest form of the German tribal organization In these courts and kingdoms the power, prestige and influence of the princes did not depend on extent of territory or military strength, but on certain qualities of personality and life The whole community from the prince to the peasant was animated by a coherent Volksgeist (spirit of the people) which made it favourable ground for that kind of cultural creation in which the individual personality mattered
The Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau was a typical principality of this species To begin with, it had a very old dynasty whose princes held a distinguished record in the whole course of German history. The line was very old — in fact, older than the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns, and it could trace an unbroken descent from Albrecht the Bear who became Margrave of Brandenburg in[[1134]]
The dynasty was called the Ascaman, which prompted some fanciful genealogists to claim its origin from Ascamus, the son of Aeneas. But even without any eponymous ancestor, many of these dynasties had lasted long enough to have become rooted in the hearts of their people without any reference to their personal merits
The princes of Anhalt were, at all events, able and good men They never acquired large territories At their most extensive, their land embraced only the whole of Anhalt, but even this was split up from time to time owing to a curious law of succession which did not recognize primogeniture, but required that at the death of a father each of his sons would get an equal share by means of partition Thus, at the time of Muller’s birth, there weie three duchies of Anhalt — Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Cothen and Anhalt-Bernburg
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In actual fact, the importance of the principality as well as of the dynasty was due, not to territory, but to the personality of the princes and their achievements In the Middle Ages the Ascanians took an active part in the conflict between the Teuton and the Slav m eastern Germany At the time of the Reformation the princes of Anhalt were prominent champions of the Protestant cause, and both Luther and Melancthon paid tributes to their zeal, ability and piety During the Thirty Years’ War again they commanded the Protestant armies In the eighteenth century Leopold of Anhalt, famous under the name of the Alte Dessauer (Old Dessauer), was one of the leading generals of Prussia, and fought at Hochstadt, Blenheim and Malplaquet He also organized the armies of Frederick the Great’s father, and afterwards commanded part of Frederick’s forces in the War of Austrian Succession
The personal role of the Dukes of Anhalt continued in the second half of the eighteenth century, when Duke Franz of Anhalt-Dessau became one of the most outstanding representatives of the Age of Enlightenment He had travelled widely in Italy, Holland and England, and though he had avoided France as a country dangerous to young German princes, he was liberal enough to erect a monument to Rousseau in his park at Worlitz He loved England, and used to say that hn England one becomes a man’ There he studied agriculture, architecture, gardening and even manufacture, so that he might be able to introduce improvements in the manner of living of his people
He spent his time and efforts not only in trying to improve the conditions of living of his subjects, for which he was loved by his people and called Father Franz; he also tried to inspire them with high ideals and to raise their mental level After seeing the English parks he laid out many in and around Dessau, and some of them were as fine as any in England In Italy he studied both ancient and modem art with the pioneer art critic Wmckelmann, and collected works of art These he arranged in his museums and palaces which were open to the people Like Weimar, Dessau also attracted great literary figures of the age — Goethe, Wieland, Lavater, Matthieson and many more, who came to the Duke’s palace as guests He patronized the educational reformer, von Basedow, who was the precursor of Pestalozzi and Froebel, and gave him a home in Dessau when he had to leave Hamburg after a riotous mob had burnt down his house* Even Treitschke, the champion of Prussia, who had no
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sympathy to waste on the small principalities, called Duke Franz, ‘the honourable doyen of the house of Anhalt and a prince of imperishable memory’ Not the least of the attraction of these princes was that they weie all tall and handsome Wmckelmann spoke of the visit of young Duke Franz to him as the visit of a young Greek god His successor, Leopold, too, was very tall and handsome
Towards the end of Duke Franz’s rule Napoleon appeared at Dessau after crushing Prussia at Jena Max Muller’s mother, as a child of six, saw her venerable and beautiful prince standing at the foot of the stairs bareheaded to receive the pale and small Corsican Even then he was wearing the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle on his breast Napoleon inquired if he had sent a contingent to the Prussian army, and when he said that he had not, asked him why ‘Because I was not asked,’ replied the Duke ‘But if you had been ‘Then I should have sent my soldiers,’ said the Duke, and then he added, ‘Your Majesty knows the right of the stronger ’ Napoleon was rather pleased, and said that he would respect the neutrality of Dessau, provided the Duke repaired, at his expense, the bridges destroyed by the Prussians He even inquired further if he could do anything for the Duke ‘For myself,’ the Duke replied, ‘I want nothing I only ask for mercy for my people, for they are all like my children to me ’
Duke Leopold Friedrich, who succeeded in 1817, continued the traditions of Duke Franz In Anhalt-Dessau there was neither restoration nor reaction It was as if the twenty-five years of upheaval, from 1789 to 1814, which created modern Germany, formed no part of the history of the principality. It lemamed untouched by the cunents of change which were powerful in Prussia in one way, and in the southern German States like Bavaria in anothei The first was reconstructing its political and economic organization under the shock of defeat, the southerners were doing so from their association with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. The rest of Germany was more or less stagnant. But Dessau was not stagnant, it remained traditional but healthy in its unchanged state It had both stability and tranquillity Though the old order remained intact in it there was no conscious theory either of restoration or reaction. It carried on the pre-Revolution existence of the principality with its benevolent despotism and spmt of Enlightenment. Duke Leopold was able to rule his Duchy in this manner till 1848
Max Muller, who was born and brought up in this Dessau,
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described the Duke as the most independent sovereign, in Europe He was not accountable to anybody in the exercise of his power, a constitution did not exist, nor was it allowed to be mentioned All appointments were made by him, all salaries were paid from the ducal chest, and whatever existed in the Duchy belonged or seemed to belong to the Duke There was no appeal from him He imposed the taxes, and if money was wanted introduced a new tax But the taxation was low, and, what was more remarkable, if there were wars or distress the taxes were actually remitted The only outside opinion that counted was that of the civil service of the Duchy, which was the custodian of the established traditions of government and in such a strong position that its advice, though not binding, could not be disregarded by the Dukes
The Dukes were rich Not only did the Duchy belong to them virtually as private property, they also had properties elsewheie They used this wealth as much for their people as for themselves All the public buildings, theatres, libraries, schools, and barracks were erected by them, and in addition they also provided residences for their high officials Though formally the land belonged to them, most of those who had houses of their own enjoyed their property m freehold
Personally, Duke Leopold was a splendid example of the best type of paternal ruler, just and fair, very hardworking, and accessible Besides, he was very cultivated, and his Duchess, a Prussian princess — a mece of Frederick William III — was equally well educated and cultivated Both were popular with their subjects, and to the common people and to the young they weie little short of a god and a goddess. The peasants as they caught sight of the Duke’s carnage shouted ‘Ha Ktmmef , and the whole village gatheied round him
The Duke was completely feudal in his love of hunting. The beautiful oak forests of the Duchy weie stocked both with deer and boars, and he would not allow anybody else to hunt them When he did, that was considered a great favour The deer came to recognize and dread his approach so much that even when they heard his carriage coming they scampered away, though they did not budge in their grazing when other carriages passed The boars destioyedthe crops of the peasants, who ran after his carnage asking for compensation, and he made up the losses When these amounts became too much the officials demurred But the Duke still compensated them
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from his private funds, and asked them not to tell his ministers
Max Muller’s relationship with the ducal family was closer than that of others For one thing, his father was the Duke’s librarian, and was held in great esteem and affection by him Secondly, his grandfather on his mother’s side was the Duke’s chief minister, or President of the Duchy He was the son of von Basedow the educationist, and after him his son also became the chief minister of Dessau Even after Muller’s father had died, leaving his wife and two veiy young children unprovided for and in genuine poverty, the Duke continued to take an interest in the boy and helped the family As Muller became a very competent musician even as a boy, the Duchess would ask him to come to the Schloss and play duets with her on the piano When the Duke sent for him he would look up at him with fear and trembling, though nothing could be kinder than the reception of the boy by the tall and handsome old man, with his deep voice, slowly uttered words, and very quiet manner
The landscape of the Duchy was beautiful The Elbe was not far away, and its tributary, the Mulde, ran by the town All around were magnificent forests of oak, as well as of firs, which stood in rows like so many grenadiers But the town, except for the ducal Schloss and the other palaces, had no architectural pretensions It was also very small, with no more than ten to twelve thousand inhabitants in Muller’s childhood It was still walled in, and at night the gates were shut The oil lamps swung across the streets, and the night watchmen walked along them
It was a curious town with one long mam street running through it, called Cavalierstrasse This street was very long, and had pavements on both sides But so little traffic passed over it that it had to be weeded from time to time to get rid of the grass which came up through the chinks of the stones The houses generally had only one storey, and some of them were mere cottages Almost every house had a mirror fastened outside the mam window, like the driving mirrors of today, so that the inmates could get notice of an approaching visitor It was the fashion to paint the walls white, green, pink, or blue, and above there were waterspouts like real gargoyles which not only frowned on those who passed below, but during rainstorms poured water by the bucketful on their red and green umbrellas
The population of the town was divided into two classes according
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to Muller — the educated and the uneducated The first, without reckoning the princely families, consisted of the officials, the clergy, the school teachers, doctors, artists and the military officers, and the other class, of tradesmen, mechanics and labourers Trade was almost wholly a Jewish monopoly, and Dessau had its ghetto, for a former Duke who had granted them leave to settle in Dessau without any fear of persecution also insisted that they should live only in certain streets Rut the Jewish quarters in Dessau did not show the squalor which the ghettoes in other German towns did There was no particular prejudice against Jews None the less even as a boy Muller felt that they were only a tolerated community
Max Muller’s classification of the population of Dessau by education was significant, because in the world in which he lived mental status was more valued than wealth In any case, nobody outside the ducal circle had much money None the less, the community of the educated in Dessau lived happily enough One thing which helped the peace of the town was the absence of newspapers In his young days at Dessau Muller knew only one, which gave nothing but reports of actual events on one, or half, or even quarter of a sheet
The horizon of this world was narrow, but for that reason it was also stable Everybody performed his work honestly and conscientiously, and everybody was the keeper of his brother’s conscience As Max Muller says in his autobiography, ‘everybody knew everybody else, and every thing about everybody Everybody knew that he was watched, and gossip, in the best sense of the word, ruled supreme in the little town Gossip was, in fact, public opinion with all its good and all its bad features ’ The result was that no one could afford to lose caste, and everybody behaved as well as he could The society being on the whole blameless, it was all the more merciless towards sinners, whether the sin was small or great
But even this small world did not impose its limitations on mental growth For so small a town, the education provided was as good as any to be had in a large German city At the beginning of the century the eyes of the whole of Germany, and even of Europe, were turned on the educational experiments carried out by von Basedow m the Philanthropium which he had established in Dessau The Dukes took great interest in education, and everything possible was done to keep the different schools— elementary, middle and high— on the highest level of efficiency Besides, in the small 6hte
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of the town, the cultural level was very high, and there was music of a type which could be heard only in the great cities There was a first-rate theatre, both for plays and opera, and also a small but real intellectual circle
The society of the educated at Dessau exhibited a mixture of simplicity in living with the highest kind of mental enjoyment At the evening parties in the house of Muller’s maternal grandfather there would be playing or singing of extracts from Don Giovanni or Fideho and readings from the latest works of Goethe or Jean Paul along with drinking of wine and tea In the house of his parents a more learned company would enjoy their Shakespeare, Dante and Calderon in the original languages with his mother as well as his father
The Muller family were old residents of Dessau Max Muller’s grandfather was only a tradesman, but he was very much respected as such, and he was also the founder of the first lending library in the town Muller never saw him, nor his grandmother on the father’s side The old lady whom he knew as granny was his father’s stepmother, who was a rich widow before her second marriage. Muller was told that his grandfather married her for her money, so that he might be able to give his son a liberal education
She grew to be very old, and when Muller and his sister, who was two years older, were sent to visit their grandmother they were terrified by her thin, white face, her piercing eyes, and her dishevelled clothes — all of which made them think of her as the old witch of German fairy-tales This notion she strengthened by telling them stories of ogres, ghosts and witches, which kept them awake at night from fear and, on Muller himself, left a very deep impression. She did not know her stepson at all well, and for preference she would talk of her own young days and of her first husband, but in such language that if the children repeated it at home they were severely scolded
Max Muller’s father, Wilhelm Muller (1794-1827), did get his liberal education, and under F. A Wolf acquired enough classical scholarship to be able to write a book on Homer, Homensche Vorschule Besides being the Duke’s librarian, he was also a teacher m the Gymnasium of Dessau But he became more widely known, and even famous, as a poet Muller never claimed that his father was one of the great poets of Germany, and he was not. But he was very popular as a writer of lyrics and songs Among his best-known
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song cycles are the still well-known and sung Schone Mullenn and the Wmterreise , set to music by Schubert He also wiote poems inspired by the nationalism of the age in its most fiery form These were contained in a collection called Gnechenheder , and in them his love for ancient Greece mingled with his enthusiasm about the Greek war of independence and admiration for the heroes of this war These songs were at one remove an expression of his ai dent German nationalism Under the Mettermch System it could no longer be directly voiced in Germany, so it broke out in phiiHellemsm The Greeks did not forget him When a monument was erected to him at Dessau in 1891 the Greek government of the day sent Pentelic marble for it.
On his mother’s side Max Muller was connected with the highest in Dessau’s public service As has been already mentioned, his grandfather and uncle were successive presidents or chief ministers of the principality Another uncle was the commander-in-chief of the army; he had fought with the Prussians at Jena, and marched into Paris twice The Basedows were a handsome, high-tempered and imperious tribe, and when Muller was told that he took after his mother’s people, he was ready enough to admit it as regards looks, but he hoped he was not a Basedow in temper
His mother, Adelheide von Basedow, was very beautiful, very small and very passionate She was very highly cultivated, and knew English, French and Italian perfectly She was not the Pedagogue Basedow’s granddaughter for nothing Goethe and old Basedow were friends, and the poet mentioned and praised the educationist in his poems But he also complained bitterly of Basedow’s never being without a pipe in his mouth, and of lighting it with the most offensive tmder, Stinkschwamm, as Goethe called it Muller’s mother knew that, of course, and when she and her husband went to see Goethe, and the latter asked what her maiden name was, she replied laughing ‘Your Excellency ought to scent it, I am the granddaughter of Basedow ’ This was a very great liberty, but as she was young and very beautiful Goethe characteristically did not mind
It was Wilhelm Muller’s personal qualities and his standing with the Duke which made his marriage mto the Basedow family possible But he and his wife were most devoted to each other, and even on their very small income they lived pleasantly in a house provided for the ducal librarian, with a pretty garden behind it This home was
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the rallying point of all the cultivated, scientific and artistic society of Dessau Wilhelm was also a most devoted father, and would play for hours with the children as though he were a child himself. These games, together with a vague picture of his father making him and his sister sit on his knees and telling them stories, were the only recollections Muller had of his father He was four years old when his father died at the age of only thirty-three, on October i, 1827
This was a sudden and terrible calamity for the family One day Wilhelm Muller had gone to Oranienbaum, a park near Dessau, to see the Duke, and returned late in high spirits In the night his wife woke up to find him dead by her side The death was due to paralysis of the heart Adelhe^e Muller was twenty-eight, and unprovided for But more than that she felt the loss of a beloved husband. She remained inconsolable, and though she lived for fifty-six years as a widow, she never married again She would take her children with her when she went to her husband’s grave in the cemetery at Dessau, which was called Gottesacker or God’s Acre, and was planted with acacia trees She stood there for hours, sobbing and crying, and saying that she wished to die in order to be with her husband Her children, when they heard that, only hoped that she would not leave them behind but take them with her This restful place planted a life-long love in Max Muller for acacias But at that time the inscription over the gateway of the place puzzled him very much It ran ‘Tod 1st mcht Tod, 1st nur Veredlung Menschhcher Natur * — ‘Death is not death, ’tis the ennobling of man’s nature ’
Although Max Muller from his early childhood grew up in the shadow of death, he came on both sides from a stock which possessed great vitality and as a small boy he was full of fun and mischief. His mother’s old servant, Hanna, who called him Dieser infame jfunge , this terrible boy, and who lived to a great age, never tired of asking for news of her early tormentor
After the death of her husband Frau Muller lived for some years with her father, and then settled herself with her children in a very small house, consisting of a ground floor, a storey above, and a loft under a high-pitched roof With that there began a life of great hardship for the whole family The widow had been granted a pension by the Duke, who had himself written to her expressing his sympathy, and informing her of the grant But it was only 150 thalers (£15) a year, and from the life insurance which was
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compulsory for a civil servant there was a little more All of it was quite inadequate for any kind of comfort If it had not been for the extreme cheapness of living at Dessau Frau Muller would not have been able to feed her children As for clothing, it was always thin and extremely well-cared for In winter there was positive suffering Muller often woke up to find his breath frozen on the bedsheet into a thin layer of ice, and he had to wash after breaking the ice in the ewer, which left only a few drops for use The snow-covered windows did not admit light For breakfast there was only coffee and a roll This hard life made Muller a sufferer from acute headaches throughout his early life, and from their recurrence even later It remained a riddle to Max Muller that his mother was able to bring up her children at all
Naturally, religion was an important element in his early life Of a winter’s evening his mother would sit by the warm stove, and in candle light would read out from a book in her hand, while the servant woman went on turning the humming spinningwheel •
O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,
Voll Schmerz unde voller Hohn
As he listened, the boy Muller saw the bleeding head before his eyes, and cried until his mother comforted him by saying that the sufferer was now in heaven, and it was only a song to be sung in church. Another experience, too, left an indelible impression on him. The house in which Muller lived looked into the churchyard of the Johannis Kirche, which in itself was not beautiful But on one Easter Day, it was transfigured for him — the sun had risen in full radiance and the old church, with its grey slate roof, the high wmdows and the tower with a golden cross, shone with marvellous brightness, and suddenly music began to come out of it When he asked his mother what it was, she said that it was an Easter hymn which they were singing in the church
But willingly as he listened to religious readings at home, and full as his heart was with love towards Christ, he suffered intensely when taken to attend the church service Though he liked the singing, the sermon was a real torture, and the large church was so cold that he felt as if he was in an ice-cellar, and would have allowed his teeth to chatter if he had not been told that it was wrong to make any kind of noise in a church.
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Music was the greatest enjoyment of his life at that age Dessau at the time was steeped in music The Duke kept a first-rate orchestra, and his Capellmeister was a composer of the old school, Friedrich Schneider, who was also the head of the conservatonum or the music school He scolded Paganini, Spohr, Sonntag and Mendelssohn. Apart from the general musical atmosphere, his mother and her sisters sang well His mother had a perfect contralto voice, and was often invited to sing solos at musical festivals At home she and Muller played a quatre, and soon he began to accompany her when she sang Hearing his mother and aunts, he could sing all that they sang, and was once put on the table to sing a great ana of Handel His parents were friends of the Webers, and also of Mendelssohn who once took the boy Muller on his knees as he was playing the organ in the Grosse Kirche and made him play the choral, while he himself played the pedal
Muller’s formal musical education began very early, but it began secretly He was five years old, and his mother was staying with her father The neighbour on the right-hand side of the house took lodgers, and one of his lodgers was an ex-theology student, now studying music and taking lessons from Schneider He often talked to Muller across the hedge He had noted the child’s love of music, and one day, lifting him over the hedge, he took him to his room and asked him if he would like to play the piano When Muller agreed with eagerness, he said that he would teach him for half an hour every day, provided he told nobody, not even his mother So Muller had his lessons for about six months, keeping it quite secret He at last sat down to the piano in his grandfather’s salon, and to the amazement of everybody played some easy pieces from Mozart and Diabelh. The young man, whose name was Kahle, was at once formally engaged to be Max’s music teacher, and he charged sixpence for a lesson. Muller made very quick progress
Young Max was, of course, sent to school, first to the elementary school and after that to the higher one His school work, which at the higher level included elements of Latin and Greek, was not heavy The teachers were very conscientious, and though they taught well they did not make the life of their pupils a burden. Muller’s record was good at school, but in no way very outstanding. His musical interest and his constant headaches interfered with his work in school.
At this stage it was a young teacher who first told Max Muller
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that he ought to be worthy of his father— an idea which had never before entered his mind, for he was not old enough when his father died to have any correct idea of his literary eminence This teacher, a Dr Homcke, had an attractive appearance, though there was a very sad air about him, due to the fact that he knew he was dying of consumption Besides, he was a liberal and was politically persecuted He died soon after Muller had left Dessau, but Homcke’s suggestion that he should remember what he owed to his father, and the feeling of piety that went with it became strong influences on the boy’s life
Max Muller’s headaches often made him lose two or three days a week in his lessons, for he felt as if the skm of his forehead was peeling off and he had to he down and try to sleep Yet he had to do his work, even though he did it carelessly, and in consequence was scolded and punished Finally, when all remedies had failed, he was sent to the famous founder of homoeopathy, Hahnemann, who had taken refuge in the Duchy of AnhaltCothen, and from there visited Dessau as a consulting physician Hahnemann was a very imposing personality, a powerful man with a gigantic head and strong eyes, and a most persuasive voice He made the boy Muller swallow a good many of his globules, but did not succeed in curing him, and it was not till i860 that he was finally cured of his migraine at Oxford
Max Muller visited his grandfather Basedow’s house as a matter of course But the old president did not have much time to attend to the children in the family, and in any case he made no secret of his preference for his son’s son So when his cousin was taken out by his grandfather to shoot with him, and came back with a hare, Muller felt somewhat jealous But he was soon cured of that jealousy, for one day he was also taken out to shoot, and his grandfather, who could not see very well, shot a doe with two young fawns. The death cries of the mother, and the whimperings of distress of the young ones, which kept trying to suckle their dead mother, horrified Muller, and he made a vow never again to go out shooting or to kill an animal This vow he kept, though he was laughed at for it
Once, when he was twelve, Muller’s mother went with some friends for a holiday to Heligoland, leaving her son with her mother, the Frau President The reports of the old lady to her daughter of her grandson’s doings showed that he did have his due share of being spoilt by grandparents, at all events by his grandmother.
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We shall miss him very much [wrote the old lady] when he leaves us He has become quite one of us You would be amused to see him smoking a pipe with his grandfather, he can also take a pinch of snuff, and he does not refuse a taste of liqueur The father has a very quiet horse on which he can ride alone, so you will find him quite a grown-up man in all the fine arts His trousers indeed have a very variegated appearance from cherries, bilberries, and ink, but a young man does not think much of that
Soon after his grandfather, President Basedow, died Muller was twelve, and his mother thought that it would be better for him to be with other boys and under the supervision of a man He had been spoilt by her love, and also by her severity in punishing him So, after having risen from form to form in the school at Dessau, he was sent to the famous Nicolai School at Leipzig That was at Easter 1836
For the next eight years Max Muller lived at Leipzig, taking five years to finish his school education, two and a half to obtain his doctorate from the University of Leipzig, and spending about six months in literary work and exploring openings for a career During the last three of these his mother and sister came over from Dessau, and they lived together in order to economize and also to enable Muller to live in greater freedom and comfort. But during the school years he was separated from his mother, and much as both wished to meet each other he could not always afford to go home as frequently as he wanted The distance was only thirty-five miles and the journey by coach cost only one thaler (approximately three shillings) To save even that Muller at times walked home all the way, and in the last lap felt so tired and cramped and stiff in the legs that he sat by the roadside and rested before he actually entered the town So, the agonizing separation between a fatherless only son and a widowed mother, both of whom passionately loved each other, began for Muller at the age of twelve, and lasted for forty-seven years During the whole of this period he wrote regularly to his mother, and every letter was preserved by her Bound in five volumes they are now in the Bodleian
The extraordinary thing was that even as a boy he unconsciously assumed a role of guardianship over his mother, and as he grew older it became quite conscious, of course The following letter was written when Muller was just short of thirteen.
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My dear good mother — Today for the first time, I have to be far away from you on your birthday, and you can fancy how sorry I am I think it grieves you too, little mother, for I know your love for me Oh, how I long to be with you, only for a moment, only to press you in my arms, only to tell you how I love you but it cannot be Your birthday is always doubly dear to me, first because it is your birthday, and then because it was the first day that you roused yourself again from your sorrow, to which just in these weeks of the year you gave way more than usually [Wilhelm Muller died on October i, and her birthday was October 12 ] You were right to grieve, and it would not have been proper to try to console and amuse you You must have sorrowed this year more than usual, as the birthday of our good grandfather was this week [The first birthday after his death in 1835 ] But I will not write more about this, it will but renew your sorrow I will only say that God has replaced something of what you have lost, in giving you two beings who love you as no others do You best know whom I mean Your Max
When at school in Leipzig Muller lived with a friend of the family, Professor Cams, whose son, Victor, was the same age as he was The Professor would not accept any money, nor could Muller’s mother offer any He was treated as a son of the family, and the two boys slept in the same room, worked together and had everything m common. They remained friends all their life Frau Cams, who took care of him like a mother, was called Xante (Aunt) by Muller The house had a large garden, and it was also an orthopaedic institution for girls About thirty of them were either boarders or attended daily Their joyful company made the place pleasant.
The Nicolai School, into which Muller had secured admission, was one of two famous schools in Leipzig, and when the boys of the schools met, their rivalry often showed itself in blows. These German public schools were not residential, the boys lived at home and spent about six hours at school. Therefore the influence of the teachers on the boys was less continuous than in English schools. Also, they were mixed in their social affiliations The son of a minister and the son of a well-to-do butcher or blacksmith had to sit together, and the more delicate boys were exposed to bullying by their rough and muscular school-fellows. Max Muller however, was well able to hold his own both at Dessau and at Leipzig, and many of his masters, who knew his father, took a personal interest m him
The emphasis in teaching was almost overwhelmingly on the
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classics, and the grounding given in both Greek and Latin was very thorough In the higher forms the boys were expected to speak Latin fluently, and Muller when he left school did so easily Modern languages, mathematics and science were looked upon as poor relations, and the boys, who were aware of the relative prestige of the subjects, often absented themselves from the science classes
Therefore, as was only to be expected, the headmaster was a wellknown classical scholar, Dr Nobbe, whose edition of Cicero was used even in England Another teacher was a specialist in ancient geography, one an annotator of Demosthenes, and yet another a Greek lexicographer Max Muller became very proficient in Greek as well as Latin But being the son of a German poet and a reader of contemporary German literature, and too young to appreciate the kind of greatness the classics had as literature, he could not help feeling that, compared with the great German writers of the day, the Greek and Latin poets were somewhat overpraised
He did well at school and often carried off prizes, to which at times a warning was attached that he ought not to become conceited on account of them At that stage he wrote poems, and some of them were read on important occasions In 1839 three hundred years had passed since Luther had preached in the church of St Nicolai at Leipzig, and for the tercentenary celebrations in the city a poem of Muller’s was selected for him to recite before a large audience He was only sixteen, and went through it with fear and trembling
But good as he was at bookwork, his most active interest at Leipzig was music By that time he could hum all the arias and symphonies of Beethoven, He was asked at times to play at the houses of friends But his most memorable experiences were of listening to the most famous musicians and composers of the day From 1835 t0 1843, during the whole period of Muller’s stay in Leipzig, Mendelssohn was conductor and director of the Gewandhaus concerts in the city. Though only twenty-six at the time of his appointment, he was already famous, and he made Leipzig the musical capital of the country. So Max Muller was able to hear the most distinguished artists and composers of his time Moreover, on account of his intimacy with Mendelssohn, he was actually invited to many performances, sometimes to listen, and at other times to take part in them.
Professor Cams was himself very musical, and his wife sang
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beautifully His son, Victor, played the violin, and Max the piano and also sang Many celebrities of the musical world came to his house One evening Muller got the autographs of five of them on a slip of paper which he kept till the end of his life They were Mendelssohn, Liszt, Kalliwoda (violinist, composer, conductor), David (violist), Hiller (conductor and composer)
Soon after his arrival in Leipzig as a boy of thirteen, he was invited to the house of Mendelssohn, and there he found not only his host, but his host’s sister, Fanny, and her husband the painter Hensel, besides David and the pianist Dreyschock He walked in bravely, and was received with the utmost kindness
Young Muller sent a report of the evening’s experience to his mother, and showed remarkable maturity in his appreciation of the performance, Dreyschock’s playing on the piano
Mendelssohn [he wrote] stood close to the piano, and I sat where I could watch Dreyschock with great comfort He is still the first of the pianists, and quite a young man He played here last winter, and was taken for Thalberg He played marvellously, so that Mendelssohn wondered at his skill, though he [Mendelssohn] immediately afterwards played an imitation of Dreyschock’s composition I must say, I much prefer Mendelssohn, even if the other has more skill, particularly in octave playing, in which he is decidedly the first of artists
Later, Muller also heard Thalberg, and wrote to his mother ‘Now I have heard Thalberg It is indescribable I am still enchanted by it there can be nothing else like it He is quite young, handsome, and very distinguished looking, beautiful hands and such skill, execution, and power ’
Max Muller also saw the first entry of Liszt into Geimany after his triumphal tours in France and elsewhere In March 1840 this blazing meteor struck Leipzig, and both dazzled and repelled the musical Leipzigers. He was only twenty-eight, very theatrical and immensely attractive to women. His style of playing was quite new then, and many lovers of music who heard him for the first time were repelled by the flamboyance both of his playing and of his appearance and manners. At one concert he came in Magyar costume, and the ladies offered him a golden chaplet of laurel and a sword Max Muller went to three of his concerts, one of them public for which he bought a ticket, and the other two at Mendelssohn’s invitation
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The public concert was advertised long before Liszt’s coming, but when he heard that tickets had been sold at one thaler (three shillings) he was very annoyed and decided that he would play only part of the programme The house was crowded, but when he appeared there was a terrible hissing, and Liszt glared like a demon at the audience However, when he began to play there was thunderous applause There was more hissing later at his manager, who was really responsible for the arrangements The next day it was advertised that the full original programme would be played, but as it was higher priced only fifty tickets were sold, and Liszt showed his displeasure by pretending to be ill and not going at all Though many of those who heard him were dazzled by his playing, Leipzig as a whole was not pleased with the new musical genius Even young Max felt that his technique was a little mechanical, though of the highest perfection
Mendelssohn, however, was delighted with Liszt, and with his usual generosity arranged two concerts for him — one a musical soiree and the other a musical matinee At the soiree, to which four hundred people came, Muller was invited because he was one of the tenors in the chorus which was to sing an oratorio
At the matinee, at which many famous musicians of the day were present, Liszt appeared in Hungarian costume, wild and magnificent, and told Mendelssohn that he was going to play something specially written for him Then, sitting down and swaying right and left on the music stool, he played fiist a Hungarian melody and then three or four variations, each to Muller, more incredible than the last
Those who heard were amazed, and all paid compliments to the hero of the day. Mendelssohn’s friends gathered round him and said 4 Ah, Felix, now we can pack up — (jetzt konnen wir einpacken ) No one else could do that, it’s all over with ust’ Liszt then came up and asked Mendelssohn to play something, and the latter laughed and said that he hardly played any more Liszt, however, would not take a refusal, and so at last Mendelssohn said playfully “Well, I’ll play, but you must promise not to be angry ’ Then he sat down and played the whole of Liszt’s Hungarian melody, and after that all the variations He even imitated Liszt’s movements and raptures, and the audience was a little afraid that the guest might take offence. But when it was over Liszt laughed, applauded and observed that no one, not even he, could execute such a bravura.
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At Leipzig Muller also saw another musical genius, soon to be recognized as great He was Robert Schumann, then poor and striving for recognition, and engaged in an almost public struggle with the father of Clara Wieck, whom he loved and wanted to marry Max Muller did not see much of Schumann in later life, and he recollected him only as a young man generally sitting in a comer of the orchestra listening to one of his works being performed under Mendelssohn’s direction He remembered his very large head and his drooping eyes, and that he smiled but rarely Max Muller completed his school education early in 1841, but for his final or abitunenten examination he had to go to Zerbst in Anhalt, so that if he passed he might qualify for a scholarship from Dessau, without which he could hardly go to university He passed and got his scholarship , it was only £ 6 , but it was an important help to him Before the examination his headmaster, Dr Nobbe, wrote to his mother ‘I rejoice that I can see him leave this school with testimonials of moral excellence not often found in one of his years, possessed of knowledge first rate in more than one subject , and with intellectual capacities excellent throughout May this young mind develop more and more, and may the fruits of his labours be hereafter a comfort to his mother for the sorrows and cares of the past ’ After Muller’s death in 1900, at a gathering held in the memory of the old boys of the Nicolai School, the Director ended his reference to him with the words £ He was without any doubt, next to Leibmtz, one of the greatest of our pupils ’
Before he left the house of Professor Cams, Muller recalled the letter to his mother in which he had sent her birthday greetings, and looked forward to the next stage of his life He wrote
When I remember the time when I first sent you my birthday greetings from Leipzig, and now see that this period of life is nearly over, I must gratefully acknowledge how good God has been to us in various ways, and has given us many compensations But above all, how grateful we should be that God has preserved you, our dear mother, to us, to sweeten for us all that is bitter, to reward all effort. How I rejoice over next year, in which a new existence opens for me, a higher aim in life floats before me, and I shall have you both [his mother and sister] with me I cannot tell you how I rejoice at the thought of this time, when I must take another step forwards, and shall again, at all events for a time, be with my own people
He was then just over seventeen*
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Max Muller joined Leipzig University in the summer term of 1841, and left with a doctorate in September 1843, ^at is to say, after spending less than eighteen months there, and before he had completed his twentieth year That was, by our standards, a very short period for going through university disciplines, but perhaps the length of the process did not, in his case, matter so much as its intensity The University of Leipzig for long had a very high reputation in Europe, and was looked upon, if not as the first, certainly among the best Other universities had come up in the early part of the nineteenth century, but even so the standing of Leipzig was very high
The German universities were quite different from English universities in their teaching methods, and in them professors had a status and prestige which they never acquired at Oxford or Cambridge It was they who imparted university education, and not the tutors, and they expounded the subjects without supervising the work of the students Personal attention was given only to those students who became members of seminars or societies, to which admission was obtained by submitting essays As to lectures, the young men were left to choose whatever they liked, and the variety as well as interest of the subjects was so great that the students had great difficulty in choosing what lectures they would attend, and on what subjects they should concentrate Thus what a student might get out of his university depended more on himself than on his teachers Max Muller exercised the freedom to widen his reading, but he also knew how to concentrate, and since he was a member of two societies concerned with Greek and Latin he received some personal guidance and advice In addition, he sampled an enormous number of subjects of which he had known nothing at school, and as a result during his stay at the university his mind passed from one stage of formation to another, which in a very German fashion I might describe as “passing fiom a state of being to one of becoming
The growth of his mind till it was ripe enough to realize its potential, and of his character till it had acquired its individuality, will be traced in a later chapter Here only the external events and the incidental activities of his life in Leipzig University have to be set down and these latter were not at all like the so-called extracurricular activities of modem universities At Leipzig the university authorities did not have anything to do with them, neither
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organizing nor supervising in any way, they were in fact part of the private life of each student, and the most noticeable feature was their freedom In regard to student discipline, the German universities of those days differed radically from the German schools of the same period They gave as much freedom as the schools imposed discipline and supervised conduct So young German university students, when they moved from the strict control by the schools to the unrestricted freedom of the universities, fully exercised and thoroughly enjoyed their freedom They gave immediate expression to it in their pranks which as Max Muller said later, would have brought them into conflict with the university authorities if indulged m at Oxford or Cambridge
Then there were duels, which though illegal, were connived at by the university, unless they resulted in serious wounds or death, and they were universal The university itself had a fencing school, the Fechtboden , to which Muller went During his university days he fought three duels, wounds from two of which left him with permanent scars One was fought to defend the scholarly standing of Professor Hermann who taught the classics Muller was listening to one of his lectures, when a student sitting at the table made some disrespectful remark about the Professor He asked the youth to be quiet, and when he went on with his foolish remarks Muller stopped him by calling him out It was obligatory on any German university student to cease from any further provocation when once challenged
In the duels the accepted etiquette with seconds was strictly observed The most usual weapon was the sword, but theological students preferred pistols because they could not easily get a living if their faces were scarred However, the last thing a German student desired was to kill his adversary, and though in Max Muller’s time there were four hundred duels in one year, only two fatal accidents happened, and, as he obseived in his autobiography, that could happen even at football. A beautiful wood near the city was the usual rendezvous of the duellers, and there was a small river close by to enable the duellers to escape if the police arrived after hearing any report. Formally, duels were forbidden and punished, but unless something serious happened the punishment for mere duelling never went beyond loss of the club uniform and flag, of the arms, and of the barrels of beer.
When Muller went to the duelling ground to defend the reputa-
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tion of his Professor of Greek, there were thirty or forty other couples ready to fight their duels, and there was a throng of spectators— of course, students— gaily attired in their club uniforms, with beer barrels pushed up on one side, and the surgeon with his instruments, waiting Many of the combatants came on horseback or even in their carnages
In spite of all his effort to remain calm and unconcerned, Muller could not help being nervous before his first duel, and he saw himself being carried severely wounded or even killed to a house where his mother and sister would be waiting for him But everything went off well, and after the duel he and his friends enjoyed a good breakfast
Though in his autobiography, written almost at the end of his life, Max Muller said that duels could never be defended, it was remarkable that even at that age, he should justify them, at least for German students In the German universities, he said, the society of students was very mixed and perfect equality reigned among them — all of them addressed one another with the ‘Thou* (Du) So a gentleman’s son required some kind of protection against the son of a butcher or of a day-labourer. Crude fighting with hands was entirely forbidden among German students, so that there remained nothing to a student who wanted to escape from being insulted by a young ruffian but to call him out Muller deliberately set down the view ‘Of course, duels can never be defended, but for keeping up good manners, also for bringing out a man’s character, these academic duels seem useful However small the danger is, it frightens the cowaid and restrains the poltroon * Still, he hoped for a time when it would be possible for men to defend their honour without recouise to sword or pistol
Of social life in the oidinary sense of the word Muller had very little during his university days He would not even have an evening suit made But he joined a student club which formed part of the famous German Burschenschaft or Students’ Association which played such an important part in the war of liberation against Napoleon, but which on account of its political associations had to go under the name of Gemeinschaft under the Mettermch System. To his club he went to smoke and drink beer, and there he acquired a numbei of friends Some of his acquaintances resented the loss of political freedom, and were ready for any wild scheme in order to have Germany united and respected abroad and to establish constitutional government at home. Being very young Mullei generally
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kept aloof while his older friends talked of their plans pour culbuter toute I’Europe, and he followed the rodomontades with the shrewd bright face of a squirrel
But that did not prevent his being locked up in prison for two days by the police for wearing the ribbon of a club which lay under their suspicion His friends were however allowed to visit him and to smoke and drink beer with him What he really dreaded as a consequence of this escapade was the loss of his stipend without which he could not continue his studies at Leipzig, and scholarships were forfeit for political offences So after his release he saw the Rector of the university and explained the circumstances of his im prisonment — how he had been arrested simply because he was a member of a club which was suspect to the police He assured the Rector that he was not involved in any political agitation or propaganda The old gentleman relieved Muller by saying ‘I have heard nothing about this , and if I do, how am I to know that it refers to you, for there are many Mullers in the university ?’
If Max Muller’s principal recreation in his school days was music, at the university it became literatuie, and more especially poetry From time to time he fancied he would become a poet, which was not unnatural in the son of a poet He became an active member of a literary society formed by like-minded fellow-students It was called ‘The Elegant World’, or ‘The Elegant’ for short Two of its members became literary figures in later life — Wolfssohn as a poet and Theodor Fontane as a very popular and widely read novelist and a minor poet But none of these aspirants could at the time imagine themselves to be destined for real greatness
Max Muller appeared for his doctorate earlier than he had intended, in September 1843, and as he was not sure of success he did not inform his mother for fear of disappointing her But he passed with ease, received his doctorate in a borrowed dress-suit, and got his cards printed with ‘Dr Max Muller’ — and placed them himself on his mothei’s lap. During the years she lived with him she never interfered with his full freedom, and yet she loved him passionately as he also loved her After her death her feeling for the relationship was found set down on a scrap of paper in words which she had copied from some English book ‘The tie of mother and son, of widowed mother and only son, the tie unlike all others in the world, not only in its blessedness, but in its divine compensation.’ “None the less, she had realized what few mothers or wives do, that
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love which at its best and strongest obliterates the separateness of selves, cannot also exist without respecting the freedom of each self
The last months of Max Muller’s stay at Leipzig were devoted to two htciary projects, the publication of a new edition of his father’s Gnechenheder , and of his own translation of the Sanskrit Httopadesa, a collection of moral fables To Leipzig society he remained, as he informed his friend, Fontane, incognito because he had paid all his farewell visits and felt no inclination for society To the new edition of his father’s lyrics of ancient and modern Greece, he added a few new poems and the hymn to Raphael Riego, the Spanish revolutionary He also wiote a preface to the new edition, showing the poems in relation to the reaction against all liberal movements which had followed In writing this, his object was to excite a feeling of contempt for those who had betrayed the struggle for liberty of a whole people But in the political conditions of the times — five years were still to go before the suppressed revolutionary feeling was to buist out in 1848 — it could not be printed Max Muller told his friend Fontane that he was very annoyed, but he also observed philosophically ‘You sec there is nothing left but to avoid all living subjective topics, and take refuge in the objective past ’ So he added. ‘I have picked out a work from hoary antiquity and my first opus will soon appear, a German translation of the oldest Indian collection of fables You will find many acquaintances of childhood’s days, from Gellert, La Fontaine, etc , and the interesting thing is that one can follow the wanderings of these fables, through twenty different languages, from the oldest to most recent times ’ This book Muller dedicated to his Professor of Sanskrit, Brockhaus