HARBURG, a seaport town of Hanover, Prussia, at the head of a circle in the district of Liineburg, is situated on the left bank of the southern branch of the Elbe opposite Hamburg, which stands on the right bank of the northern branch of that river. The distance between the two towns is about 4/ miles, and there is railway communication be tween them by means of a bridge over both rivers, com pleted in 1871. The town is also connected with Hanover by railway. It is the seat of a local court, a superintendent- general, a head custom house, and a chamber of commerce ; and it possesses an old castle, which from 1524–1642 was the residence of the Hamburg line of the house of Liineburg, a real-school of the first order, a commercial school, and a trade school. The industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of india rubber and gutta percha wares, oil, soda, starch, alum, cigars, yarn, cast-iron, machines, and leather. There are also horse and cattle markets, and some shipping trade, which, however, has considerably declined since better communication was opened up with Hamburg. In 1878 there entered 469 sea-going vessels with a burthen of 38,110 tons, and 7677 iron vessels with a burthen of 175,643; while the corresponding averages during the previous twelve years (1866-1877) were 633 sea-going vessels and 7669 of iron craft, with burthens respectively of 43,036 and 168,082 tons. Harburg be longed originally to the bishopric of Bremen, and received town rights in 1297. In 1376 it was united to the princi pality of Liineburg, along with which it fell in 1705 to Hanover, and in 1806 to Prussia. In 1813 and 1814 it suffered considerably from the French, who then held Hamburg, and who built a bridge between the two towns, which remained standing till 1816. The population in 1875 was 17,131.
HARDENBERG, Friedrich von (1772–1801), German poet and philosopher, best known as Novalis, was born on his father s estate in the county of Mansfeld, in Prussian Saxony, May 2, 1772. He was of a shy, retiring, and thoughtful disposition, and was deeply influenced by his parents, who were strict members of the sect of Moravian Brethren. After attending the gymnasium of Eisleben he went as a youth of eighteen to the university of Jena, where he studied philosophy, mathematics, and the natural sciences. There he was treated with great kindness by Schiller, of whom he was a warm admirer. He studied law in Leipsic and Wittenberg, and in 1794 settled for a time in Teunstiidt in order to perfect himself in the practi cal work of the legal profession. During his residence in Tennstadt he formed a passionate attachment to Sophie von Kiihn, a beautiful but delicate girl of thirteen, and with her consent obtained a promise from her parents that when she reached womanhood she should become his wife. In 1795 he was made auditor at the salt-works of Weissen- fels, where his father was director. Two years afterwards his betrothed died, and for some time he seemed to be broken-hearted and to have lost all interest in life. In a few months, however, he went to the academy of mines at Freiberg, where he studied with a view to a higher appoint ment in connexion with the salt-works ; and in the midst of his studies he became engaged for a second time, and was again able to look forward to a happy and useful career. He returned to Weissenfels in 1799, and was associated as assessor with the directorate of the salt-works. As he was preparing for his marriage in the autumn of 1800 he was alarmed by the sudden appearance of blood from the lungs. The wedding was postponed, and although he believed to the end that his recovery was certain, the disease made rapid progress, and he died on the 25th of March 1801. He was of a tall, slight, and graceful figure, with light brown hair and hazel eyes, and a face expressive of a calm, gentle, and meditative spirit. After his death his writings were issued in two volumes by his friends Ludwig Tieck and Friedrieh Schlegel, and were rapidly recognized as important contributions to German literature. They are for the most part composed of fragments, of which the chief is Heinrich von Ofterdingen, an unfinished romance. Hardenberg is often spoken of as " the prophet of the Romantic school ; " and the phrase sufficiently marks his leading peculiarities. He took no part in the literary warfare carried on by his friends, but he shared to the full their strongest sympathies. Like them he intensely disliked those "enlightened" writers of the 18th century who had claimed to say the last word about human life through mere logic ; he was penetrated by the conviction that there are elements in the world which cannot be grasped by the understanding, and which must be felt rather than reasoned about. Although he was fond of science and history, he moved most freely in the borderland between religion, philosophy, and poetry ; and his prose writings are full of sayings which, although not easily intelligible, are impres sive and stimulating. His diction is often simple and unostentatious, but it is rendered difficult both by the abs- truseness of his themes and the remoteness of his allusions. As a poet he lacked definiteness of conception ; his lyrics, however, especially those of a religious nature, have a certain tender beauty which gives them high rank in the serious literature of Germany. They are marked by deep feeling and by sweetness and grace of expression. He himself regarded a series of Hymns to Night as his best achievement, but it is in Heinrich von Ofterdingen that the majority of his admirers find the fullest utterance of his mystic aspirations, his passion for spiritual beauty, and his idealist philosophy.
See his Schriften (5th ed., Berlin, 1837; vol. iii., 1846), and R. Haym, Die Romantische Schule (1870), and Friedrieh von Hardenberg (1873).
statesman, was born at Esselroda in Hanover, May 31,1 750. Having studied at Leipsic and Gb ttingen, he entered the Hanoverian civil service as chamber councillor (Kammer- rath) in 1770, and afterwards spent some time in Wetzlar, Ratisbon, Vienna, and Berlin, and travelled in France, Holland, and England. He was made privy chamber councillor (Geheim-Kammerrath) and raised to the rank of count in 1778; but a private quarrel with the prince of Wales compelled him four years afterwards to give up his appointments in Hanover and seek a new career. In 1787 he received the office of president of the board of domains (Kammercoliegium) in Brunswick ; and he was entrusted with the duty of delivering to Frederick William II. of Prussia the will of Frederick the Great, who had deposited it with the duke of Brunswick. Frederick William II. was so impressed by Hardenberg s appearance and character that in 1790 he recommended him as a minister to the margrave of Anspach and Baireuth. These principalities being united to Prussia in 1791, Hardenberg was appointed a Prussian cabinet minister, but continued to perform his duties as chief administrator of the new province. In the war with the French republic he acted as minister of war, and in 1795 signed on behalf of Prussia the treaty of peace con cluded at Basel. When Frederick William III. mounted the throne in 1797, Hardenberg was transferred from Anspach-Baireuth to Berlin, where he received high offices in the cabinet, being also soon afterwards nominated chief of the departments for Magdeburg and Halberstadt, for Westphalia, and for Neuchatel. At this time the foreign policy of Prussia was determined by Haugwitz, who was on all occasions subservient to Napoleon. When in 1803 Prussian interests seemed to be threatened by the French occupation of Hanover, Haugwitz fell into disrepute, and in
the following year his place at the liend of the cabinet was
