第1章 Preface

The present is the only collected edition of the principal works of Schiller which is accessible to English readers. Detached poems or dramas have been translated at various times, and sometimes by men of eminence, since the first publication of the original works;and in several instances these versions have been incorporated, after some revision or necessary correction, into the following collection;but on the other hand a large proportion of the contents have been specially translated for this edition, in which category are the historical works which occupy this volume and a portion of the next.

Schiller was not less efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for a dramatist. He was formed to excel in all departments of literature, and the admirable lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of judgment displayed in his historical writings will not easily by surpassed, and will always recommend them as popular expositions of the periods of which they treat.

Since the first publication of this edition many corrections and improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable as possible to English readers.

History of the Thirty Years' War in Germany.