father that she will not be appeased until married to Cephalo. But she
loses her life through the falling of an old, dilapidated castle
wherein she has been keeping an unconventional tryst, and Cephalo
becomes the intimate friend of the painter.

Loeben's ideas and technique stand out in every line of this story.
One woman is placed between two men, unexpected friendships are
developed, the lute and the zither are played in the moonlight, love
and longing abound, nature is made a confidant, _der Zaubern der
Kunst_ is overdone, familiar stories--Leda and the Swan, Actaeon and
Danae--are interwoven, there are manifest reminiscences of _Emilia
Galotti_ and _Ofterdingen_, and the prose is uncommonly fluent. The
only character in the entire narrative who has any virility is the
antiquarian, and he is one of the meanest Loeben ever drew. Alberto
has no will at all, Leda not much, Cephalo less than Leda, and Danae
is without character. In short, the only valuable, part of the story
lies in its approach to a development of the psychology of love in
art. But it is only an approach; and it does not make one feel
inclined to read a vast deal more of the prose works of Graf von
Loeben.

As to Loeben's lyrics,[22] they are irregular, inconsistent, and odd
as to orthography,[23] melodious and flowing in form, poor in ideas,
rich in feeling that frequently sounds forced, representative of
nearly all the important Germanic, Romance, and Oriental verse and
strophe forms, reminiscent of his reading[24] in many instances, and
romantic as a whole, especially in their constant portrayal of
longing. Loeben was the poet of _Sehnsucht_. He tried always _das Nahe
zu entfernen und das Ferne sich nahe zu bringen_. With a few
conspicuous exceptions, his lyrics resemble those of Geibel somewhat