It is difficult to assign to Gustav Freytag his exact niche in the hall of fame, because of his many dedness. He wrote one novel of which the statement has been made by an minent French critic that no book in the German language with the exception of the Bible, has enjoyed in its day so wide a circulation; he wrote one comedy which for years was more frequently played than any other on the German stage he wrote a series of historical sketches Pictures of the German Past he calls them which hold a unique place in German literature being as charming in style as they are sound in scholarship. Add to these a work on the principles of dramatic criticism that is referred to with respect by the very latest writers on the subject an important biography a second very successful novel and a series of six historical romances that vary in interest indeed but that are a noble monument to his own nation and that, alone would have made him famous.
