Aaron and his sons, it was believed that God Himself from time to time descended, filling them with supernal splendor, thus making known his purposes and helping Israel to decision. So, in the Bible's words, "They bore judgment on their hearts before the Lord continually." It seems to me that this leader of men was not without some such inspiration the Urim and Thummim - that he received in his soul more abundant measure of "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and so, in a noble sense, "bore judgment!"

To give the necessary definiteness to Lessing's environment certain contemporaries require to be mentioned. The Swiss Albrecht von Haller, though chiefly famed in natural science, possessed also a fine poetic gift which he found time to cultivate. Gessner, Hagedorn, and Ramler wrote idyls and lyrics with a certain Horatian lightness and grace. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert reached the popular heart, in the later half of the century, beyond any other writer; his fables in particular found acceptance, doing much in an evil time for sound morality. In the same field with Lessing, criticism, stands C. F. Nicolai, vastly inferior, indeed, to the solitary of Wolfenbüttel, and sadly discredited in his old age: for a time, however, he exercised an appreciable and wholesome influence on the perfervid poets and over-subtle philosophers who surrounded him.

CHAPTER XI.

KLOPSTOCK, WIELAND, AND HERDER.

Turning from the great figure of Lessing, who stands like Moses among his people, guiding them to things beautiful, but himself dying before the day of glory is reached, we have now to consider three men of importance, -Klopstock, Wieland, and Herder, one of whom, Herder, is scarcely less great than he who so nobly "bore judgment," although his greatness was of a different kind. All were young men when Lessing's influence began to become paramount, coming forward into eminence with him, or while he sat supreme; when he died, holding for a moment the immortal light, until it was transferred at length to the true torch-bearers of the gods, the transcendent men from whom the literature of Germany was to receive its noblest illumination.

As has been seen, the two rival schools of criticism, that of Gottsched and his followers, at Leipsic, on the one hand, that of Bodmer and Breitinger, at Zürich (known as the Swiss), on the other,battled stoutly over many points. As Gottsched liked the French, the Swiss liked the English; they blamed French writers as being formal and artificial, demanded nature, and loved Shakespeare and

Milton, whom they sought to make widely known. Their hearty effort the school of Gottsched as heartily opposed, declaring that English poets would never receive recognition, much less be imitated, in Germany. It was therefore a great triumph for the Swiss, when in 1748, three cantos of an epic poem appeared, called the "Messias," whose author had manifestly been influenced by Milton, — a poem which brilliantly justified their views, and aroused among Germans immediate enthusiasm. It was the production of a youth scarcely beyond his twentieth year, a theological student at Jena, coming thither from Quedlinburg, in Saxony, - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. His boyhood had been spent for the most part in the country; he was a good classical scholar, also of sincere piety; he plainly also knew the "Paradise Lost," although he followed his model in no servile spirit. The omens were unpropitious for Gottsched. If the "Messias" conquered its way to recognition, his prestige was lost; he fought it with critical thunder, and whatever other batteries he could influence opened with him to destroy the apparition. It was all in vain ; Gottsched's real services were forgotten; from the appearance of the "Messias" the prestige of the Leipsic school was broken, and Zürich triumphed.

The "Messias" of Klopstock was important in other ways than as deciding the controversy between the cities. Though modelled upon Milton, as Milton is thought by some to have derived some hints from the Anglo-Saxon poet, Cadmon, it was the first great epic poem since the days of the Hohen

stauffen in which the German spirit moved independently. In all other directions Germans had accomplished something. Lyrics had been written; there was a dramatic literature of a certain kind; some philosophy, and overmuch theology; but the field of the epic had lain fallow. The nation considered that the gap was now nobly filled, and the young Klopstock was set beside the greatest poets. Bodmer at once invited him to Zürich, where, however, he offended the over-severe magnate by a cheerfulness which seems to have been innocent enough, but which was thought inconsistent with the character of a religious poet. He was invited to Copenhagen, and a pension given him, that he might complete the "Messias." As is so

often the case in the history of authorship, the first accomplishment of Klopstock was the best, or at least the most successful. The instalments of his epic, as they appeared at intervals during the following years, met with a reception descending gradually from the first enthusiasm toward indifference. He lived to a great age, showing through life a strongly-marked character and sincere piety, never forfeiting the respect of his countrymen, although his fame was soon eclipsed by the greater figures that appeared upon the scene.

It is for the Messias" that Klopstock will be mainly remembered, but there was still another department of poetry in which his accomplishment was important. Besides religion, another great idea filled his soul, that of patriotism, and the time in which he appeared was a favorable one for the in

fluence of one so disposed and gifted to be felt to the utmost. In his young manhood the victories of Frederick the Great stirred the hearts of the nation, and prepared them to listen with enthusiasm to the tones of a lyre strung for the Fatherland. At this time Klopstock sung the victories of Hermann in the old day, and revived in the hearts of Germans an interest in the faith of their heathen ancestors. From Frederick himself he turned away, believing him to be a despot, directing his glance toward the past, for he felt there was no present Germany. He had a spirit that was full of love for freedom everywhere. He was earnest in his sympathy for America in the struggle with George III.; earnest too in behalf of France at the time of the revolution, until the excesses caused in him, as in so many others who at first hailed the uprising with joy, a terrified reaction.

Since the Messias so surpasses in interest the other works of Klopstock, let us proceed to consider this more carefully, omitting further mention of the rest. Klopstock had the intention to represent poetically the history of Jesus as given in the gospels. The simple choice of such a subject had much to do with the admiration felt for the poet by his contemporaries. The cultivated world was then, in the main, religious, and rejoiced to have a German venture forth in emulation of the much-praised Briton.

Looking at the subject technically, it is right to say that the story of Christ is not well adapted for

1 Kurz.