Heinrich Julian Schmidt

[1] Julian Schmidt's principal contributions to literary history are: The latter two works subsequently appeared as Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von Leibniz bis auf unsere Zeit (History of German literature from Leibniz until modern times; 4 vols., 1886–1896).

Jahrhundert (Outline of English literature of the 19th century; 1859); Schiller und seine Zeitgenossen (Schiller and his contemporaries; 1859); the collections of essays Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unserer Zeit (Snapshots from the intellectual life of our time; 1870–74), and Porträts aus dem 19.

Jahrhundert (Portraits from the nineteenth century; 1878) Julian Schmidt exercised more influence upon the period of German intellectual life in which he worked than has been accorded him.

As a critic in journals and periodicals, his discussions comprised the entire scope of intellectual life in science, arts, and politics.

The forte of his criticism, especially in regard to works of art, lay in an almost infallible instinct to perceive truth, power, and sterling worth, which quality enabled him to teach his contemporaries not to borrow their views of things from remote chains of thought, but to trust the spontaneity of their own feelings.