them great men, of whom the greater long resided in Italy—attend many rehearsals—witness the performance of the piece, and afterwards allow the story to be printed, yet this gross mistake remains unobserved!
Werthes, who as early as the year 1770, gave the public a well-meant, but highly hasty translation of "Carlo Gozzi," has the same mistake, and it is easy to perceive on comparing them, that Schiller has copied from Werthes, and probably consulted the Italian original but very little.
One of the most serious, I may say one of the most striking blunders of ignorance imaginable, is found in the second volume of the correspondence between Zelter and Göthe (p. 295)—
"In reading your little book over and over again, I always stick fast at the following passage:
'Nur Byzanz blieb noch ein fester Sitz für die Kirche und die mit ihr verbundene Kunst.'"
[Byzantium alone still remained a stronghold for the church, and for the arts connected therewith.]
Now no person could possibly imagine what there is in this passage that appears so obscure
