Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/278

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AUERBACH.
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AUFRECHT.

whose complete works he translated (1841). Spinoza's philosophy can be traced in the ethics of his novels of the higher social life. His life was uneventful, though embittered at the close by the growth of German anti-Semitism. His best-known works are Das Judentum und die neueste Litteratur (1836); a semi-biographical novel, Spinoza (1837); Dichter und Kaufmann (1839); Der gebildete Bürger, an attempt to popularize philosophical subjects (1842); Schwarzwälder Dorfgeschichten (1843) — his first great success, widely translated, and expressing with a sympathetic realism the memories and scenes of youth. This was followed in the same field by the hardly less charming second series of Village Tales (1846), Barfüssele (1856); Joseph im Schnee (1861); Edelweiss (1861); a third series of tales, Nach dreissig Jahren (1876), Der Forstmeister (1879), and Brigitta (1880). Meantime he had written a mass of now insignificant journalistic work, and, among other novels, Auf der Höhe (1865), a philosophic romance, blending peasant life and character with that of the higher circles in a royal capital and country-seat. This was an attractive exhibition of doctrinaire ethics, and established his reputation in spite of errors in construction and style. Das Landhaus am Rhein (1869) was similar but less successful, and Waldfried (1874) sought vainly to draw literary inspiration from German unity and the French war. The rest of his forty volumes are negligible. All Auerbach's longer work is overweighted with philosophy and a leaden humor. He is best in emotional situations and the sentiments of simple natures; excellent in description, but weak in the management of plot. Still, Auf der Höhe has enough inherent reality to triumph over its faults, is still read and worth reading. Auerbach's talent appears to best advantage in the Dorfgeschichten and in such modest stories as Barfüssele, Edelweiss, and Brigitta. Consult Zabel, Berthold Auerbach (Berlin, 1882).


AUERBACH'S KEL'LER. A Leipzig wine-cellar and tavern, which occupies much the same place in the hearts of Goethe-lovers that the London ‘Cheshire Cheese’ holds in the hearts of the admirers of Dr. Johnson. It is associated with the early life of the German poet, who in his student days was a regular habitué of it, and is supposed to be the original of the tavern scene in the drama of Faust.


AUERSPERG, ou'ẽr-spẽrK, Adolph Wilhelm Daniel, Prince (1821-85). An Austrian statesman. He served in the army from 1841 to 1860, and attained to the rank of major. In 1867 he entered political life as a member of the Bohemian Diet, being elected by the Liberal land proprietors, and in 1868 became a member for life of the Upper Chamber of the Austrian Reichsrat. He was Governor of Salzburg from 1870 to 1871, and proved in that position, as well as in his subservient political life, a stanch supporter of the constitution. From 1871 to 1879 he was the head of the Austrian ministry, as such succeeded in carrying out the electoral reform, securing direct elections to the Lower Chamber of the Reichsrat, and in strengthening the political entente with Hungary.


AUERSPERG, Anton Alexander, Count von (known to literature as Anastasius Grün) (1806-76). An Austrian statesman and poet. He was born at Laibach (Carniola), studied at Gratz and Vienna; through his verse became distinguished as a Liberal; was elected to the German preliminary Parliament in 1848, and subsequently to the National Assembly. Under the Constitution of 1861 he was appointed by the Emperor a life member of the House of Lords, where he continued prominent in opposition to the Feudal-Clerical and Slovenian parties. He was similarly active in 1861-67 in the diets of Carniola and Styria. His first noteworthy publication was Der letzte Ritter (1830; new ed., 1885), a celebration of Maximilian I., in the metre of the Nibelungen-Lied. With Spaziergänge eines Wiener Poeten (1831; new ed., 1835), an attack upon the Metternich regime, he attracted great attention. Chief among his further publications are the Volkslieder aus Krain (1850), and Robin Hood (1864), an adaptation of the English ballad material. His poetry is eminently contemplative, and at times overburdened with the author's reflections. In its assertion of freedom it was intluential during the political controversy of the time, and it still may be read for a number of genuine lyrics. His Gesammelte Werke were edited by L. A. Frankl (Berlin, 5 vols., 1877). Consult: Schatzmayer, Anton, Graf von Auersperg (2d ed., Frankfort, 1872), and Radics, Anastasius Grün (Leipzig, 1878).


AUERSPERG, Carlos, Prince (1814-90). An Austrian statesman. On the advent of the new constitutional era, in 1861, he became a member of the Upper Chamber of the Reichsrath. As a representative of the Liberal landed proprietors in the Diet of Bohemia, and afterwards as president of the Austrian House of Peers, he took a conspicuous part in defending the constitutional system against clerical and feudal reaction, and in establishing the unity of the Empire. He presided over the Austrian ministry in 1868, and subsequently was a zealous supporter of the Liberal Cabinet, at the head of which was his brother Adolph.


AUERSTÄDT, ou'ẽr-stĕt. A village in Saxony, 25 miles northeast of Weimar. Here Davout won a great victory over the Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick on the same day (October 14, 1806) that Napoleon defeated their main army at Jena. The battle was fought in a mist, between 48,000 Prussians and 30,000 French. The Prussians lost one-half of their army, while Davout's loss amounted to 7,000 men. Consult Lettow-Vorbeck, Der Krieg von 1806 und 1807, Vol I., Jena und Auerstädt (Berlin, 1891).


AUF DER HÖHE, ouf dẽr hẽ'e. See Auerbach, Berthold.


AUFFENBERG, ouf'en-bĕrK, Joseph, Baron von (1798-1857). A German dramatist. He was born at Freiburg, where he first studied law, but soon began to write dramas. He became president of the committee of the Court Theatre at Karlsruhe several years afterwards. The following are a few of his more important dramatic works: Pizarro (1823); Ludwig XI. in Peronne; Der Löwe von Kurdistan; Alhambra; Das Nordlicht von Kasan. An edition of his complete works (22 vols.) was published at Wiesbaden in 1855.


AUFRECHT, ouf'rĕKt, Theodor (1822—). A German philologist and Sanskrit scholar. He was born at Leschnitz and was educated at the