Ihre left religion and politics alone, and received many high distinctions in return for his great scientific merits. When ennobled, he kept his old family name, stating that he was “somewhat known abroad under the name of Ihre,” while if he changed it to Gyllenbiorn or Vargstierna, it would take “some time to announce this new disguise.” He was renowned for his ready wit, and wielded a considerable influence in academic circles. Ihre was satisfied with his position and his science, and was not willing to exchange them for a political career.
Ihre was led to the study of the Teutonic languages in their oldest forms by his desire to find a consistent spelling and correct understanding of the words in his own language. He was desirous of freeing it from foreign words, but only when those substituted were as expressive and comprehensible as the old. Ihre was a pioneer in the field of dialect lexicographers, publishing the outline of a Swedish dialect dictionary in 1766, and wrote a number of works pertaining to the historic forms of Gothic, Lappish, Finnish and Old Norse. Special importance is due to his epoch-making research concerning the language of the Codex Argenteus. He once for all settled the controversy, proving the Codex to contain the Gothic Bible translation of Bishop Wulfila against the assertions of M. Lacroze of Berlin, who claimed that it was written in Frankish. In regard to the Edda of Snorre Sturleson, he declared it to be intended as an introductory study of poesy, a handbook of poetics for young scalds, an opinion which has been fully established in a much later time. By these and other theories Ihre attained a much higher standpoint as a scientific critic than his contemporaries. He spoke of the resemblance between the Teutonic and the classical languages, without being able to find the reasons. He even to some extent anticipated the great discovery which after its formulator has been called Grimm’s Law, by pointing out “a certain regularity of consonant shift” in the Teutonic languages.
The monumental work of Ihre and the crowning effort of his life was prepared between the years 1750-1759. This Glossarium suiogothicum, published at the expense of the government, is the best Swedish dictionary of the eighteenth century. Ihre by his severe critical method kills the wild etymologies of the “Rudbeckian philology,” turning to Old Swedish for the derivations, and, where this gave no satisfaction, to the Old Icelandic, “because this language nine hundred years ago was separated from our own and has remained undisturbed by foreign influence.” From the Old Northern dialects he turned to Old High German, Old English and Gothic, the last mentioned of which he considered the mother of the Teutonic languages. Many of Ihre’s etymologies have not been able to withstand the scrutiny of later criticism, but his great etymological dictionary is the product of versatile knowledge and unusual insight, and has not only exerted a profound influence upon his own period but also served as a model for later epochs of philological research.
[CHAPTER XV]
Gustavian Period—Gustavus III. and Gustavus IV. Adolphus
Gustavus III., with his brilliant endowment, one of the most illustrious, and, in spite of his glaring faults, one of the most beloved, of Swedish monarchs, was the first king since Charles XII. who was born in Sweden. For this very reason, and on account of his amiable and charming disposition, he had won for himself the sympathy of the people even before his succession to the throne. This nephew of Frederic the Great of Prussia had inherited the genius, ambition and pride of his gifted mother, all enlarged and intensified, and the gentleness and good nature of his father. He was in every particular a child of his time, and every inch a king. Gustavus was decidedly French in education, taste and superficiality, but had by his first teacher Dalin been inspired with a deep love of his country, its history, language and traditions. He handled the Swedish and French languages with equal skill, and a more eloquent monarch has never graced a throne. He was passionately fond of theatricals and impressive ceremony, and, like his mother and illustrious uncle, he surrounded himself with men of genius. Gustavus was betrothed to Princess Sophie Magdalene of Denmark when only four years of age, and married her when twenty. This union was arranged by the Riksdag, contrary to the wish of Gustavus’s parents. Gustavus appeared at first to be deeply in love with the gentle and unpretentious princess, but she soon found herself as neglected by her consort as she was detested by his mother. The crown prince early began to hate the form of government which had brought so much humiliation to his parents. This absolutism of the Riksdag, which could be bought and sold through bribery by foreign powers, he considered dangerous to the independence and welfare of the country, and was resolved to change the balance of power to the hands of the king, of whose dignity and importance he held an exalted opinion.
At the death of his father, Gustavus was in France, returning with the agreement of a secret alliance. At the Riksdag of 1771, where the Caps once more came into power, Gustavus III. signed a pledge with new restrictions of the royal authority. But while the king officially seemed to desire a pacification of both parties, and his time was principally occupied with theatricals, embroideries and costumes, he was secretly arranging a conspiracy. He was crowned in May, 1772, and in August the news of a revolt in Scania, led by John Christian Toll, reached the capital. The king feigned surprise, but waited for similar news from Finland, whence Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten was to bring troops to Stockholm. As Sprengtporten’s movements were somewhat delayed, the king had to take action himself. In the morning of August 19th he entered the officers’ hall of the body-guards, where he delivered a patriotic address, asking the officers to follow him as their ancestors had followed Gustavus Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus. He was greeted with an enthusiasm which soon spread throughout the capital, assuring the king of perfect loyalty. The state councillors were quickly arrested and order given that no one should be allowed to leave the capital. The Riksdag was called together August 21st, and addressed by the king in an eloquent speech which gave a striking view of the situation and its perils. He declared that he was not going to touch liberty, only to abolish misrule by the establishment of a firm administration. Then was read the proposition for a constitution which the king had prepared. The king alone was to be the executive, appointing higher officials and councillors, making alliances with foreign powers, but not commencing any war of attack without the consent of the Riksdag. The state council was to consist of seventeen members with deliberative, but no executive, power. The Riksdag was to convene at the order of the king, taxation and legislation to be decided on by the king and Riksdag in common. The judicial power of all committees was to be abolished. The Riksdag accepted the royal propositions, and one of the most smoothly and skilfully managed coups d’état ever attempted was accomplished, much to the dismay of Russia, Prussia and Denmark. During half a score of years the country enjoyed a happy peace, the king winning the love of his people and being active in administrative improvements.
Gustavus III. was intensely interested in literature and art, and a writer of considerable ability, composing dramatic works of French pattern but with patriotic subjects. In his best creations he is influenced by Shakespeare. Among the poets whom he encouraged were Kellgren, Leopold, Creutz, Gyllenborg, Oxenstierna, Adlerbeth, the creators of a classical school of Swedish poetry and drama, influenced by the contemporary French writers. Above these towers Charles Michael Bellman, who, with his composite and rich endowment, became the first great national poet, and of an originality as remarkable as that of any genius in the literature of the world. The humor introduced into Swedish literature through the contact with the songs of the Edda, in Bellman reaches its perfection, while his poetry in exquisite and triumphant grace of form outrivals that of his classical contemporaries. His poems were almost all produced under the inspiration of the moment, even if later remodelled, and sung to the lute to melodies of the day, or of his own composition. His impressionistic power of description leads the thought to the modern artists, while his ambition to unite the arts of poetry, music and plastics makes him a precursor of Neo-Romanticism. There is not one accent of chauvinism, not even a note of patriotism, in his songs, yet he is the most beloved of Swedish poets, recognized as the highest exponent of the lyrico-rhetorical temperament of his people, a mixture of melancholy humor and exuberant joy in a graceful yet stately form. Anne Marie Lenngren was a highly talented poetess, who preserves the classic form for her verse, in which she ridicules the faults and vices of her period. Thorild and Lidner were men of great genius, but of somewhat bizarre and neglected literary form, influenced by contemporary Romanticism in Germany. Sweden continues to add a number of names to the galaxy of men distinguished in the service of natural science, those of Bergman and Scheele, the founders of modern chemistry, being the most renowned. To the Academy of Science and Academy of Art, established during the Period of Liberty, Gustavus added a Swedish Academy and a National Theatre for the encouragement of poetry, eloquence, music and drama. It is during this period that the Swedish language developed the beauty and plasticity for which it holds the first rank among Teutonic dialects, and is considered one of the most musical languages of the world. Of artists, the painters Hœrberg, Hillestrœm and Roslin rose to great continental fame, while Sergel, through the genius and tendencies of his works one of the most remarkable sculptors of modern times, won renown for his name, but hardly the very highest perfection within his possibilities. His statue of Gustavus III. is the finest monument of Stockholm.
Sweden, so rich in great poets, artists and scientists, is poor in philosophers, content with the systems of thinkers in more favored countries. Swedenborg is an important exception to this rule. Not satisfied with an original system, with pure reason as the fundamental principle, he divined a system in which philosophy and religion are inseparably united. Kant, when made acquainted with Swedenborg’s earlier system, was utterly astonished, expressing fear that he himself had been an object of thought-transference, when writing his celebrated work, “Kritik der reinen Vernunft.” The system of Descartes was followed by Swedish philosophers of the Carolinian epoch. During the Period of Liberty and the reign of Gustavus III., Locke, Voltaire and Diderot were supreme. At the close of the eighteenth century, Kant began to exert great influence, Benjamin Hœijer being his talented and individualistic disciple, and enjoying the reputation of having been Sweden’s greatest original thinker. Charles August Ehrensverd, an able warrior and statesman of the Gustavian epoch, devised an attractive and novel, although slightly dilettantic, system of his own, the Philosophy of Fine Arts.