intellect as clear and vivacious as ever—seem to have effected what might be called a spiritual purification in Heine’s nature, and to have brought out all the good sides of his character, whereas adversity in earlier years only intensified his cynicism. The lyrics of the Romanzero (1851) and the collection of Neueste Gedichte (1853–1854) surpass in imaginative depth and sincerity of purpose the poetry of the Buch der Lieder. Most wonderful of all are the poems inspired by Heine’s strange mystic passion for the lady he called Die Mouche, a countrywoman of his own—her real name was Elise von Krienitz, but she had written in French under the nom de plume of Camille Selden—who helped to brighten the last months of the poet’s life. He died on the 17th of February 1856, and lies buried in the cemetery of Montmartre.
Besides the purely journalistic work of Heine’s Paris years, to which reference has already been made, he published a collection of more serious prose writings under the title Der Salon (1833–1839). In this collection will be found, besides papers on French art and the French stage, the essays “Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland,” which he had written for the Revue des deux mondes. Here, too, are the more characteristic productions of Heine’s genius, Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski, Der Rabbi von Bacherach and Florentinische Nächte. Die romantische Schule (1836), with its unpardonable personal attack on the elder Schlegel, is a less creditable essay in literary criticism. In 1839 appeared Shakespeares Mädchen und Frauen, which, however, was merely the text to a series of illustrations; and in 1840, the witty and trenchant satire on a writer, who, in spite of many personal disagreements, had been Heine’s fellow-fighter in the liberal cause, Ludwig Börne. Of Heine’s poetical work in these years, his most important publications were, besides the Romanzero, the two admirable satires, Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen (1844), the result of his visit to Germany, and Atta Troll, ein Sommernachtstraum (1876), an attack on the political Tendenzliteratur of the ’forties.
In the case of no other of the greater German poets is it so hard to arrive at a final judgment as in that of Heinrich Heine. In his Buch der Lieder he unquestionably struck a new lyric note, not merely for Germany but for Europe. No singer before him had been so daring in the use of nature-symbolism as he, none had given such concrete and plastic expression to the spiritual forces of heart and soul; in this respect Heine was clearly the descendant of the Hebrew poets of the Old Testament. At times, it is true, his imagery is exaggerated to the degree of absurdity, but it exercised, none the less, a fascination over his generation. Heine combined with a spiritual delicacy, a fineness of perception, that firm hold on reality which is so essential to the satirist. His lyric appealed with particular force to foreign peoples, who had little understanding for the intangible, undefinable spirituality which the German people regard as an indispensable element in their national lyric poetry. Thus his fame has always stood higher in England and France than in Germany itself, where his lyric method, his self-consciousness, his cynicism in season and out of season, were little in harmony with the literary traditions. As far, indeed, as the development of the German lyric is concerned, Heine’s influence has been of questionable value. But he introduced at least one new and refreshing element into German poetry with his lyrics of the North Sea; no other German poet has felt and expressed so well as Heine the charm of sea and coast.
As a prose writer, Heine’s merits were very great. His work was, in the main, journalism, but it was journalism of a high order, and, after all, the best literature of the “Young German” school to which he belonged was of this character. Heine’s light fancy, his agile intellect, his straightforward, clear style stood him here in excellent stead. The prose writings of his French period mark, together with Börne’s Briefe aus Paris, the beginning of a new era in German journalism and a healthy revolt against the unwieldly prose of the Romantic period. Above all things, Heine was great as a wit and a satirist. His lyric may not be able to assert itself beside that of the very greatest German singers, but as a satirist he had powers of the highest order. He combined the holy zeal and passionate earnestness of the “soldier of humanity” with the withering scorn and ineradicable sense of justice common to the leaders of the Jewish race. It was Heine’s real mission to be a reformer, to restore with instruments of war rather than of peace “the interrupted order of the world.” The more’s the pity that his magnificent Aristophanic genius should have had so little room for its exercise, and have been frittered away in the petty squabbles of an exiled journalist.
The first collected edition of Heine’s works was edited by A. Strodtmann in 21 vols. (1861–1866), the best critical edition is the Sämtliche Werke, edited by E. Elster (7 vols., 1887–1890). Heine has been more translated into other tongues than any other German writer of his time. Mention may here be made of the French translation of his Œuvres complètes (14 vols., 1852–1868), and the English translation (by C. G. Leland and others) recently completed, The Works of Heinrich Heine (13 vols., 1892–1905). For biography and criticism see the following works: A. Strodtmann, Heines Leben und Werke (3rd ed., 1884); H. Hueffer, Aus dem Leben H. Heines (1878); and by the same author, H. Heine: Gesammelte Aufsätze (1906); G. Karpeles, H. Heine und seine Zeitgenossen (1888), and by the same author, H. Heine: aus seinem Leben und aus seiner Zeit (1900); W. Bölsche, H. Heine: Versuch einer ästhetischkritischen Analyse seiner Werke und seiner Weltanschauung (1888); G. Brandes, Det unge Tyskland (1890; Eng. trans., 1905). An English biography by W. Stigand, Life, Works and Opinions of Heinrich Heine, appeared in 1875, but it has little value; there is also a short life by W. Sharp (1888). The essays on Heine by George Eliot and Matthew Arnold are well known. The best French contributions to Heine criticism are J. Legras, H. Heine, poète (1897), and H. Lichtenberger, H. Heine, penseur (1905). See also L. P. Betz, Heine in Frankreich (1895). (J. W. F.; J. G. R.)
HEINECCIUS, JOHANN GOTTLIEB (1681–1741), German
jurist, was born on the 11th of September 1681 at Eisenberg,
Altenburg. He studied theology at Leipzig, and law at Halle;
and at the latter university he was appointed in 1713 professor
of philosophy, and in 1718 professor of jurisprudence. He
subsequently filled legal chairs at Franeker in Holland and at
Frankfort, but finally returned to Halle in 1733 as professor
of philosophy and jurisprudence. He died there on the 31st of
August 1741. Heineccius belonged to the school of philosophical
jurists. He endeavoured to treat law as a rational science, and
not merely as an empirical art whose rules had no deeper
source than expediency. Thus he continually refers to first
principles, and he develops his legal doctrines as a system of
philosophy.
His chief works were Antiquitatum Romanarum jurisprudentiam illustrantium syntagma (1718), Historia juris civilis Romani ac Germanici (1733), Elementa juris Germanici (1735), Elementa juris naturae et gentium (1737; Eng. trans. by Turnbull, 2 vols., London, 1763). Besides these works he wrote on purely philosophical subjects, and edited the works of several of the classical jurists. His Opera omnia (9 vols., Geneva, 1771, &c.) were edited by his son Johann Christian Gottlieb Heineccius (1718–1791).
Heineccius’s brother, Johann Michael Heineccius (1674–1722), was a well-known preacher and theologian, but is remembered more from the fact that he was the first to make a systematic study of seals, concerning which he left a book, De veteribus Germanorum aliarumque nationum sigillis (Leipzig, 1710; 2nd ed., 1719).
HEINECKEN, CHRISTIAN HEINRICH (1721–1725), a child
remarkable for precocity of intellect, was born on the 6th of
February 1721 at Lübeck, where his father was a painter.
Able to speak at the age of ten months, by the time he was one
year old he knew by heart the principal incidents in the
Pentateuch. At two years of age he had mastered sacred
history; at three he was intimately acquainted with history
and geography, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, besides
being able to speak French and Latin; and in his fourth year
he devoted himself to the study of religion and church history.
This wonderful precocity was no mere feat of memory, for the
youthful savant could reason on and discuss the knowledge
he had acquired. Crowds of people flocked to Lübeck to see
the wonderful child; and in 1724 he was taken to Copenhagen
at the desire of the king of Denmark. On his return to Lübeck
