In Germany itself, in the same way, the greatness of their great
Frederic lies in his blending a rapidity and clearness, not German,
with the German basis; the greatness of Goethe in his blending a love
of form, nobility, and dignity,--the grand style,--with the German
basis. But the quick, sure, instinctive perception of the
incongruous and absurd not even genius seems to give in Germany; at
least, I can think of only one German of genius, Lessing (for Heine
was a Jew, and the Jewish temperament is quite another thing from the
German), who shows it in an eminent degree.
If we attend closely to the terms by which foreigners seek to hit off
the impression which we and the Germans make upon them, we shall
detect in these terms a difference which makes, I think, in favour of
the notion I am propounding. Nations in hitting off one another's
characters are apt, we all know, to seize the unflattering side
rather than the flattering; the mass of mankind always do this, and
indeed they really see what is novel, and not their own, in a
disfiguring light. Thus we ourselves, for instance, popularly say
'the phlegmatic Dutchman' rather than 'the sensible Dutchman,' or
'the grimacing Frenchman' rather than 'the polite Frenchman.'
Therefore neither we nor the Germans should exactly accept the
description strangers give of us, but it is enough for my purpose
that strangers, in characterising us with a certain shade of
difference, do at any rate make it clear that there appears this
shade of difference, though the character itself, which they give us
both, may be a caricature rather than a faithful picture of us.
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