German composition

Section 160 Opinions⁠ as to English Education. I.1

This⁠2 energy of individual life and example acting throughout society constitute⁠3 the best practical education of Englishmen. Schools, academies, and colleges⁠4 give but the⁠5 merest beginning of culture in comparison with it (S. 4, N. 5). Far higher⁠6 and more practical is⁠7 the life-education daily given in our homes, in⁠8 the streets, behind (S. 3, N. 2) counters⁠9, in workshops, at the loom and behind the plough, in counting-houses and manufactories, and⁠10 in all the busy haunts of men. This is the education that⁠11 fits Englishmen for doing the work and acting the part of free men. This⁠12 is that final instruction as members of society, which Schiller designated “the education of the human race,” consisting⁠13 in action, conduct⁠14, self-culture, self-control—all⁠15 that tends to discipline a man truly, and fit him for the proper performance of the duties of life—a kind of education not to be learnt (S. 7, N. 3 B) from (aus) books. Lord Bacon observes that⁠16 “Studies teach not their own use, but that there is (S. 82, N. 7) a wisdom without them and above them, won (S. 7, N. 3 B, and S. 2, N. 1) by (durch) observation, a remark that holds⁠17 true of⁠18 actual life, as well as of⁠19 the cultivation of the intellect itself. For all observation serves⁠20 to illustrate and enforce the lesson, that a man perfects himself by work much more than by reading⁠21,—that⁠22 it is life⁠23 rather than literature⁠21, action⁠24 rather than study, and character⁠25 rather than biography⁠26, which⁠27 tend perpetually to renovate mankind.”

Notes

1 Ansichten über.

2 This — society. A good German rendering of the thought underlying this line is so difficult, that the author thinks it best to give at once his own translation, which he hopes will find acceptance: Diese im mehr selbständigen Leben sich entwickelnde Energie und das dadurch gegebene, auf die ganze Gesellschaft wirkende Beispiel.

3 aus´machen.

4 = universities; ‘to give’, here gewähren.

5 = a mere.

6 = more important.

7 is — homes, ist die im täglichen Leben gewonnene Erziehung zu Hause.

8 auf.

9 Use this noun in the Sing.

10 und in den vielen andern Geschäftsstätten der Menschen.

11 Say ‘that enables Englishmen as free men to do their work and their duty.

12 This — designated = This education gives also to human society that instruction (Unterweisung, f.), which Schiller calls, etc. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, geboren am 10. Nov. 1759 zu Marbach, gestorben am 9. Mai 1805 zu Weimar, ist nächst Göthe (Siehe S. 110, N. 1) unstreitig die bedeutendste Erscheinung in der deutschen Litteratur. Als Dichter zeichnete er sich sowohl durch seine ideale, subjektive Richtung, wie auch durch hinreißenden Schwung echt poetischer Begeisterung aus, welche im Drama ihren Höhepunkt erreichte. Aber auch als Geschichtschreiber und als philosophischer Schriftsteller hat er sich bei seiner Nation einen unsterblichen Namen erworben.

13 = and which consists in (S. 3, N. 2) action, etc.

14 in der sittlichen Aufführung.

15 = and in all that (here follows the verb ‘consists’, since this is the end of the relative clause introduced in 13), which (S. 3, N. 7) educates (bilden) man truly (wahrhaft) and fits (befähigen) him for (zu) the proper performance (= fulfilment) of his duties in life.

16 = that ‘Studies do not teach us the application of the same, but’, etc.

17 ‘to hold true’, here = to prove true.

18 = in practical life.

19 of — itself, in Bezug auf die Geistesbildung selbst.

20 = interprets (erklären) and proves the doctrine.

21 here Lektüre, f., with the art.

[22] This conj. ‘that’ is best omitted, since a repetition of subordinate clauses must, as far as possible, be avoided.

23 = practical life; ‘rather than’ seems here to be = ’and not’.

24 Thätigkeit, activity.

25 The English word ‘character’ is so varied in its application that it requires always the greatest discrimination to decide upon its translation, and in this case more than ever. After careful consideration it is thought to be equivalent here to: ‘the personal dignity of a man’.

26 die Lebensbeschreibung desselben.

27 welche dazu dienen, die Menschheit stets von neuem zu beleben.