HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Martyr of Montmartre
taste and his facility of expression, he succeeded
more often than any of his contemporaries.
Among the Early Victorians, only Richard
Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton, could boast
of translations of equally fine worth. This older
friend of Julian Fane, however, selected different
poems and took greater liberties with the original.
The interest of Milnes in Heine went back to the
year 1840 and remained undiminished throughout
the following decades. Like Juhan Fane, he
too treated the Tannhauser legend, but his version
is uninfluenced by Wagner and derives its inspiration
mainly from Heine. Its very title. The Goddess
Venus in the Middle Ages, is evidence of this
influence. It appeared in 1844, four years after
Milnes had made Heine's acquaintance in Paris.
That both poets had a high opinion of each other
can be deduced from articles on Heine written
by Milnes in the Edinburgh Review of July, 1856,
and in the Academy of March 4, 1876, as well as
from a letter written by Heine to Lady Duff-
Gordon not long before his death. This lady had
introduced the young Englishman to the poet and,
as Heine on his mattress-grave recalled the pleasant
impressions produced by his English visitors,
he regretted his early vitriolic comments on Eng-
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