Freytag lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1895 at the age of
seventy-nine. Both as a newspaper editor and as a member of parliament
(the former from 1848 to 1860, the latter for the four years from 1867
to 1871) he had shown his patriotism and his interest in public
affairs. Many of his numerous essays, written for the _Grenzboten_,
are little masterpieces and are to be found among his collected works
published in 1888. As a member of parliament, indeed, he showed no
marked ability and his name is associated with no important measure.
Not to conceal his shortcoming it must be said that Freytag, at the
time of the accession to the throne of the present head of the German
Empire, laid himself open to much censure by attacking the memory of
the dead Emperor Frederick who had always been his friend and patron.
In conclusion it may be said that no one claims for Freytag a place in
the front rank of literary geniuses. He is no Goethe, no Schiller, no
Dante, no Milton, no Shakespeare. He is not a pioneer, has not changed
the course of human thought. But yet he is an artist of whom his
country may well be proud, who has added to the happiness of hundreds
of thousands of Germans, and who only needs to be better understood to
be thoroughly enjoyed by foreigners.
England and America have much to learn from him--the value of long,
careful, and unremitting study; the advantage of being thoroughly
familiar with the scenes and types of character depicted; the charm of
an almost unequaled simplicity and directness.
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