German head" in France; D'Alembert (1717-1783), the mathematician, and ardent disciple of Bacon in philosophy; Raynal (1711-1796), the historian and political writer, who denounced all existing institutions; Grimm (1723-1807), the secretary of the Duke of Orleans; Marmontel and Crebillon; and the Abbé de Condillac (1715-1780), a professed follower of Locke, but who carried the doctrines of the Sensational School further than his master. But these philosophers did not, like Voltaire, limit their attacks to religion; royalty and monarchy as well as theology, kings as well as priests, were overwhelmed with furious invectives. Thus when their project of writing the "Encyclopédie"-a work which should at the same time be a résumé of human knowledge and a vehicle of their opinions and views was announced, both government and clergy used all their power to suppress it. Nevertheless the work was continued clandestinely, and during the years 1751-1765 it appeared in seventeen folio volumes. The plan of the undertaking was conceived by Diderot, who devoted to it his time and talents for the space of about thirty years. The introduction of the "Encyclopédie" was written by D'Alembert, who was for some time its joint editor with Diderot. The demand for the work was enormous, and the first edition quickly disappeared at the most exorbitant prices. It was a colossus of scepticism, and its doctrines had a most pernicious influence in demoralizing the lower classes, while it aggregated the universal spirit of innovation that then prevailed throughout France. To quell this dangerous movement many attempts were made by religious writers, but no great genius appeared among the opposing party except Rousseau.

Aid furnished to the Americans in their struggle for in

Fean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) for twenty years combated the atheism and materialism of the Encyclopædists, but hastened on the social revolu- dependence. tion by his maintenance of the equal rights of all His youth was passed in unhappiness and poverty-a friendless, homeless wanderer. Rous

a

1778), the great Swedish botanist and naturalist, made

Linnæus (1707-seau's literary career began in 1750, when he displayed his talents in advocating the negative side of the question "Whether the Revival of Learning has most important Contributed to the Improvement of Morals?" at the Academy of Dijon. Soon after appeared his essay "On the Origin of Inequality among Men," which excited much sensation. Among his other works were "Julie," an immoral romance; "Émile," a mor

contributions
to natural sci-
ence-especial-
ly Botany. He
grouped plants
into geni and
species, and in-
troduced the
binomial no-
menclature
into Botany
and Zoology.

Bad condition of France. The starving peasants begin to rebel against their oppress

ors. Discontent and restlessness are manifest everywhere. "A revolution," wrote Voltaire, "will infallibly come, and I shall not

have the pleas-
ure of seeing
it."

Beaumarchais (1732-1799), a politician, artist, and dramatist. His fame rests on his plays, of which the most noted

al treatise, which Goethe pronounced the "natural gospel of Education;" and "Contrat Social," which alarmed and irritated men by its speculations concerning the destiny of the human race and its extreme republican doctrines. His bold opinions made him an outcast from society, and his last years were passed in frequent changes of residence to escape real or fancied persecution. Rousseau was the most inconsistent and visionary of mortals. His dissolute life was most strikingly opposed to his philosophy, and his political speculations were most superficial. But the influence which he exerted over the opinions of the age was great, and in many respects salutary. A critic has enumerated three services which he rendered to France and England: "In politics-he sought in national right a solid basis for power; in morals -he re-awakened the sentiment of duty, and proclaimed, with all the eloquence of conviction, the existence of God and the spirituality of the soul; and lastly, as a consequence of these noble principles, he unsealed the springs of poesy, and made it enamoured of nature."

Moderate Reform under Buffon. - George Louis le Clerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), accomplished in Natural Science a prodigious amount of work. His "Natural History," in fifteen volumes, which appeared from 1749-1767; his "History of Birds," of 1771; and his "History of Minerals," begun in 1773, were the labor of fifty years. In Philosophy he succeeded Montesquieu as leader of the moderate school. His writings are rather characterized by absence of religious sentiment than by open infideli

are "Le Barbier de Seville"

ty, while he was submissive to existing institutions and usages. Buffon was an eloquent and most ele- (1775) and "Le

Mariage de Figaro" (1784), the latter alone producing

gant writer, but his style is somewhat impeded by a redundancy of epithets. "M. de Buffon," said Mme. Necker, "could not write on unimportant sub- 80,000 francs. jects; when he tried to put his grand dress on little subjects, it creased and wrinkled all over." His rival was Linnæus, the great contemporary naturalist of Sweden.

II. Germany. - House of Austria: FRANCIS I. and MARIA THERESA, 1745-1765. JOSEPH II., 1765

Reformation in Literature. Lessing, Klopstock, Wieland, Herder.- To raise German literature out of chaos, to deliver it from the trammels of French influence, to fortify it with national sentiment, and to give it refinement and polish of style, there appeared four great masters: Lessing, foremost in intellect and genius, who established a new school of criticism, founded the national drama, reformed theology, aroused philosophical investigation, and exercised a powerful influence over the learned and thinking classes of the age; Klopstock, a more moderate innovator than Lessing, who aroused patriotism and national feeling, decried foreign influence in literature, imparted to the language eloquence and grace of diction, and moved the people by his religious faith and devotion; Wieland, "the literary epicurean," who introduced native literature to courts and fashionable circles, gave to the language gracefulness and vivacity, and won the interest of the upper aristocratic classes; Herder, a profound scholar, who endeavored to make poetic literature cosmopolitical rather than national, extended thought and inquiry, and animated all ranks-high, low, and middle -with intellectual zeal and ardor.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was the father of modern German literature. Educated at the universities of Leipsic and Wittenberg, and possessed of the keenness and sagacity of the most ex

Maria Theresa, as heiress to the Austrian dominions, was Queen of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, and, as the wife

of Francis, was Germany. She

Empress of

was a woman of remarkable intellect and ability. Many hospitals were and science, industry re

by her, commerce, and

ceived encouragement.

Seven Years' War (17561763), between Frederick the Great of Prussia, aided by England, and Austria,

France, Rus

sia, Poland,

Saxony, and

Sweden

Moses Mendelssohn (1729

pert logician, he was able to accomplish the work of 1786), a famous tearing down old prejudices, tastes, and customs, and

Jewish philosopher-called the Socrates of the Jews-was an intimate friend of Les

sing.

creating new ones to take their places. His first attack was made upon the universal reverence for and servility to French style and fashion. Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot were criticised by him boldly and justly, and their faults, hitherto unapproached by the daring pen of a critic, were frankly revealed. He denounced the tragedies of Corneille as composed on a false system, and unfolded to the minds of his countrymen all the beauty, originality, and vigor of Shakespeare. His proposition-"Shakespeare must be studied, not plundered"-was the germ of the subsequent æsthetic criticism with which Germany honored the great dramatist. Among Lessing's dramatic works are, "Miss Sara Sampson" (1755), the first tragedy of domestic life in the language; "Min

Reformation of na von Barnhelm," the only great national comedy

the theatre by Lessing and Eckhof, a celebrated actor, called the German Roscius, who tried to introduce on the stage a religious element.

Commencement of the modern period of German philosophy with Emmanuel Kant (17241804), who, incited to met

in German literature; "Emilia Galotti," the manifesto of his ideas respecting tragedy; and "Nathan the Wise," his last work. His principal prose works are the "Dramaturgy" and "Laokoön." Lessing has been called the "Luther of the eighteenth century" for his zeal in advocating religious toleration; he defended religion and morality from the attacks of French writers, but condemned all theological persecution.

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803) was the great religious poet of the age. His quiet, uneventful life was passed for the most part at Copenhagen and Hamburg. When a boy he aspired to the composition of an epic of which Henry the Fowler should be the hero, but, like Milton, abandoned his royal hero for a divine one. The first sketch of "The Messias" was made in 1745, but the epic was not completed till 1773. Its twenty cantos consist of twenty thousand lines of hexameter verse, and form a poetical account of Christ's life as given in the Gospels. Klopstock was universally honored during his lifetime, but his poem was not read as a whole. Its great length, want of unity, and monotonous passages ❘aphysical rewere too much for human endurance. In lyric poetry he was more successful, and his odes are read with pleasure at the present day. [See Wordsworth, under Friends.]

search by Hume's scepticism and Reid's common-sense doctrine, revolutionized the mode and

method of philosophic inquiry, and may

be said to have started that movement in Germany

which culmisucceeding age under Fichte,

nated in the

Schelling, and

Hegel.

Christopher Martin Wieland (1733-1813) began his career as a poet in the house of Bodmer, at Zurich, where his verses were chiefly of a religious and serious nature. But after leaving the Swiss school a great change came over his poetry, and it was said that "Wieland's muse had cast off her nun's attire and had dressed herself as a fashionable dame." His intercourse with fashionable circles led him to create for them a literature congenial to their tastes and habits. Partly modelled after the French style, his gay romances appeared and gained great popularity. The most celebrated of Wieland's works is his epic romance, "Oberon" (1780), of which Goethe said, "As long as poetry remains poetry, gold gold, and crystal crystal, it will be loved and admired as a masterpiece of poetic art." His most admired novel is "Agathon" (1766). He was the author of many poems and the translator of numerous foreign works. Joseph II. was Wieland made the first complete German translation of Shakespeare during the years 1762-1766. His long life extended into the next age, but his best productions belonged to this era. Hosmer has compared him as a poet to Sterne, and Bayard Taylor ranked him as a story-teller with the English poet of the Victorian age-William Morris.

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) became, in 1776, through the influence of Goethe, chaplain to the court of Weimar, and there resided for the most part during the remainder of his life. His numerous works embrace the most various branches of science, philosophy, philology, history, and politics. Herder's masterpiece is his "Ideas of the Philosophy of History," which, though wanting in many respects, gave a powerful impulse to historical investigation. His "Volklieder" is an extensive collection of songs

just tolerant prince. Full freedom was given to the press.

The German language was now universally used. Joseph II. caused translations of

portions of the made.

Mass to be