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Author: SCHILLER, Friedrich

Biography:

SCHILLER, Friedrich (1759: ODGL)

The life and works of the great German poet and dramatist Johann Christian Friedrich Schiller are so well known that only a condensed outline is required here, followed by brief biographies of the eight translators (out of a total of 19) who do not have separate headnotes. Born in Mahrbach, he wrote his first play, The Robbers (1781)when he was still a medical student. After a brief period in practice at Stuttgart, he worked as a playwright in Mannheim (1783), Leipzig (1785), and Weimar (1787). Several of his plays (see below) were on historical themes and he also wrote histories, among them a book about a war between Spain and the Netherlands that earned him a position as Professor of History at Jena (1789). In 1790 he married Charlotte von Lengefeld at Weimar; they had four children. Despite deteriorating health, Schiller launched a critical monthly (1795), produced poems for periodicals, and collaborated with Goethe (q.v.) in a collection of ballads. (Goethe and Schiller also co-founded a theatre in Weimar.) His engagement with the philosophy of Kant led to the composition of important treatises on aesthetics and literature. Schiller died at Weimar on 9 May 1805. Of the English translators without individual headnotes, W. E. Frye is identified under A. G. A. Müllner and R. Salvin under J. M. Pando. Frederick Page (1769-1834), author of treatises on poverty and the poor laws in the 1820s, was a Deputy Lieutenant of his county, Berkshire, and a commissioner on inland navigation. George Moir (1800-1870), born in Aberdeen, Scotland, was an advocate and man of letters in Edinburgh. Constable published his anthology of table-talk from French, English, Italian, and German sources in 1827 and his translations of Schiller’s historical works in 1828. He was later appointed Regius Professor of Rhetoric (1835-40) and Professor of Scots Law (1864-5) at Edinburgh University. Samuel Robinson (1794-1884), a Manchester textile manufacturer with literary interests, is known for his translations from Persian. Thomas Charles Banfield (1794-1880), an economist, published on agriculture in the Rhineland (1846) and delivered lectures on “the organization of industry” at Cambridge University. John Elliot Drinkwater, afterwards Bethune (1801-51), a lawyer, became a civil servant and a colonial administrator in India. Major-General Sir George Charles D’Aguilar (1784-1855) published also a translation of Napoleon’s battleground maxims (1831). (ODGL; NBG 43, cols. 516-26; ODNB [D’Aguilar, Moir, Robinson, Drinkwater]; findmypast.com 9 Mar. 2025) HJ

 

Other Names:

  • F. Schiller
  • Frederick Schiller
  • Schiller
  • Frederic Schiller
 

Books written (29):

London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1800
London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1800
London/ Tuebingen: Escher and Geisweller/ Cotta, 1801
New York: David Longworth, 1805
London: Rodwell and Martin, 1821
London: Rodwell and Martin, 1823
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1824
London: Septimus Prowett, 1825
London/ Manchester: Hurst, Robinson/ Robinson and Bent, 1825
London: Treuttel and Wuertz, and Hatchard, 1827
Edinburgh/ London: Cadell and Co./ Simpkin and Marshall, 1827
Bath: John Upham, 1828
London: Ackerman and Charles Tilt, 1829
London: Edward Bull, 1829
London: Black, Young, and Young, 1831
Dublin/ London: Richard Milliken and Son/ Longman, Rees, and Co., 1832
Baltimore: William and Joseph Neal, 1834
2nd edn. London/ Manchester: Orr and Smith/ Robert Robinson, 1834
London: printed privately by [W. Wilcockson], 1835