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and censures in cases where he has declaredly used the eyes both of his body and mind, and where he tells us he has had all the advantage of time enough to revolve and review his observations,' there is the less necessity for following him in his wanderings without chart or compass, and where he enables us to judge for ourlittle selves that the guide very probably knows very what he is about, or whither he is going.

The attention of the public, we presume, is likely soon to be called again to this important subject, by a work from Mr. Middleton, which was announced several months ago.

ART. III.-The Life of Professor Gellert; with a Course of Moral Lessons delivered by him in the University of Leipsick; taken from a French Translation of the Original German. By Mrs. Douglas, of Ednam House. In Three Volumes. 8vo. Hatchard. 1805.

THE name of Professor Gellert is familiar to those who have turned their attention to the progress of German literature. Though hardly to be ranked among the most distinguished of his order, he acquired and preserved the reputation of a man of letters, chiefly by his indefatigable industry in the pursuit of various knowledge, and by his success in the application of that knowledge to the developement of the great principles of moral conduct. His Lessons' have been read, and will long continue to be read, by those who are desirous of cultivating, or capable of respecting, the nobler faculties of their nature. Practical and effective usefulness was undoubtedly the great object at which the author aimed in these moral discourses, and therefore they who seek in them a system, or theory of ethics, will infallibly be disappointed. The following are the leading particulars of Professor Gellert's life. He was born at Haynichen in Saxony, in the year 1715. His father, a respectable ecclesiastic of the same place, died at the age of 75; after having employed his slender revenue, with a prudent economy, in the education of thirteen children. Christian Furchtegott (fear God) received his early education, as is usual, at one of the public We are inschools of the small town where he resided. formed, that his poetical talents began to display themselves while he was yet very young; and our readers may perhaps smile at the occasion which is recorded as having first inspirèd his muse.

His earliest attempt, says the biographer, was a poem on The his father's birth-day, written in his thirteenth year.

habitation of this good man,' he proceeds, ' was an old building supported by fourteen or fifteen props, and his children and his grand children amounted to the same number. This coincidence suggested to the young man the idea of considering the children and grand children as so many props of their father's age,and of introducing each of them speaking in his turn. At the age of nineteen, Gellert commenced his manly studies at the university of Leipsic, where he passed four years. At the termination of this period he was recalled home by his father, whose scanty income could no longer bear the burden of his expence, but compelled the young philo sopher to undertake the active duties of the sacred profession. An incident is recorded of his first essay in the pulpit, which is by no means singular in the annals of his corps. When he rose to deliver a discourse which he had imperfectly committed to memory, his presence of mind and his recollection at once failed him, and he submitted, as is usual under such circumstances, to the mortifying humiliation of recurring to his manuscript. Such however was the amiable diffidence of the young orator, that he afterwards declared, this circumstance has never been banished from my remembrance; il has been present to me every time I mounted the pulpit; and was the origin of that timidity of which I have never been able to divest myself.' It is the opinion, notwithstanding, of his biographer, that had his bodily health been more robust, he might have acquired distinguished reputation in the fields of eloquence.

In the year after his return to his family, young Gellert undertook for a short period the education of two young gentlemen who resided near Dresden; and besides the care which he bestowed upon them, he directed the studies of his brother and nephew. It appears, though for what reasons we are not sufficiently informed, that he reckoned this one of the happiest and most tranquil periods of his life.' That ardent and elevated piety which afterwards threw so genuine a lustre over his character, began to display itself about the present time, with all the vigour of fresh and aspiring zeal. His own account of the motives and progress of his conduct, of the views which opened upon his mind, and the objects which he had most sincerely at heart, manifest the singular purity and excellence of his principles. Among the first productions of Gellert's pen which have been given to the public, were his contributions to a periodical work entitled 'Amusements of the Heart and Understanding.' In this performance he became a coadjutor with several others during his residence at Leipsic; and the success of his essay is thus described by the flattering pencil of his biographer

'How imperfect soever his first attempts might be, so many beauties were discovered in them, that scarcely had he shown himself amongst the German poets, when all eyes were turned towards him.

'The moment some new piece of the periodical work he was engaged in, appeared, the reader's first care was to seek out some tale or fable of Gellert's; they were perused with eagerness, they were read over and over, and learned by heart. The easy and natural stile of his narrations, perfectly simple and unaffected, the sweetness and amenity of his verses, the natural expression of a young poet seeking to please his readers, to instruct and to make them better, who was playful without offence, whose laughter was never tinged with bitterness, but whose smiles were those of friendship or compassion; all these qualities were so attractive, that from month to month the public taste for his works became more lively and more general. It is not therefore surprising, that Gellert finding his fables succeeded, conciliated to him the general esteem, and enabled him to be useful to his countrymen, should take delight in cultivating a species of poetry, which from the earliest ages, has been considered as best calculated to convey lessons of wisdom.'

The tales and fables which Gellert contributed to this periodical work were some time afterwards collected and published in a distinct volume. They were again received with the approbation which their intrinsic excellence secured; and it is somewhat amusing to observe the author ingenuously reflecting back commendation upon that party of mankind from whom his own applauses chiefly proceeded.

'My greatest ambition,' said he, in a letter to a friend, is to please and make my self useful to reasonable people, rather than to mere scholars.

I attach more importance to the approbation of a sensible woman, than to the praises of a periodical paper; and in my opinion, one of the populace, if he is endowed with a sound judgment, well deserves that I should seek to fix his attention, to contribute to his amusement, and in narratives easily retained, to set useful truths before him, fitted to excite good emotions in his soul.'

Besides the present volume of fables, Gellert had already composed two comedies, a pastoral pocm, and the 'Oracle.' He now made a trial of his skill in romance; a species of composition which, in Germany as elsewhere, must occasionally be rendered the vehicle of injury and corruption to good morals. Gellert, it appears, entertained the delusive. hope of establishing a reformation in this attractive department of literature, and accordingly published his Swedish Countess; a performance which his countrymen have esteemed more for the design of the moralist, than the execu tion of the writer. Notwithstanding the cheerful and diver

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sified nature of his pursuits, the young author seems to have been subject to painful attacks of that mental disorder, which has so often and so fatally humbled the pride of genius.

'Gellert was, even so early as this period of his life, subject to those distressing attacks of melancholy which so much embittered his days. Notwithstanding the strictest regimen, notwithstanding frequent exercise, and his attention to avoid excess of application, he never could attain to procure himself a more confirmed state of health. Already one portion of his days, days so useful to society, were days of suffering. His virtue and his piety furnished him with the necessary courage to support with patience the first attacks of his complaint, and to look forward without terror, to a prospect of long protracted suffering. He sought, in religion, the resources and consolations which might soften a state of painful illness; and his feeling heart, ever alive to the sufferings of his fellow creatures, awakened in his mind the idea of furnishing them with the alleviations he had drawn from that source, by publishing, in 1747, a book, entitled," Consolations for Valetudinarians," which was as eagerly received as his other works, and translated into many different languages. The character of Mentor, in this book, is a picture, the principal features of which Gellert borrowed from himself, a circumstance which makes it the more affecting, as it exhibits a representation of those sufferings, which almost every day of his life renewed.'

In the year 1754, he published a collection of moral and didactic poems, and made some additions to the volumes of his tales. Among these poems the most conspicuous is the Christian, of which the following passage contains some account, whilst it conveys a lively picture of the author's moral and religious dispositions.

It is impossible to read his poem entitled the Christian, without forming a wish and a resolution to realize this model. The colouring of this poem might indeed have made more splendour, but the mild mixture of its tints possesses a gentle charm, and a beauty which pleases more and more as we examine it. The sentiments do not arise to enthusiasm and passion; they have rather the warmth of a spring morning, than the glowing heat of a summer's day. Finally, these poems are the touching expression of a true love for virtue, and in Gellert's soul this was a mild and gentle sentiment. He sought, particularly whilst composing the Christian, to impress his mind in the most lively manner with a sense of the inestimable blessing of the redemption. This piece was written in the space of eleven days; that is to say, he devoted to it those moments of leisure which the academical labours allowed him. "May I," said he, after having finished it, “ reap the first truits of it myself! May the ideas it developes serve to reanimate me, when I am depressed by melancholy! O God, make it contribute to the good of my soul!"

In 1751, Gellert began to give public lessons in poetry and eloquence to a very numerous audience. The merits of the teacher were generally acknowledged, and his success in consequence was considerable. Still, however, he was oppressed both in mind and body by the terrible malady which hung over him. A history of the origin and progress of this disorder, by a truly sagacious observer, might have formed an interesting addition to the memorials of mental aberrations which have already been compiled. Under the hands of the present biographer, its circumstances are so loosely and monotonously described, the facts relating to it, buried under such a mass of commentary, and clouded by so thick a veil of Lutheran doctrine, that the philosophical inquirer may in vain seek for any clear or satisfactory account of its phænomena.

One of the numerous expedients which Gellert adopted for the removal of his complaints, was a visit to the waters of Carlsbad. From these, however, he derived no relief, whilst the tedious vacancy of life which was there prescribed, seemed rather to confirm his malady. Amongst the epistolary compositions incorporated with his biography, are several in which he describes the proceedings and the characters of his acquaintances in this resort of strangers. Among the most interesting is the account which he communicates to a friend, of his interviews with the celebrated Laudohn.Vol. 1. p. 118.

The peaceful and studious life of Gellert was interrupted by few of those incidents which can excite any considerable degree of interest. Assiduous in the discharge of his professional duties, and diligent in extending the fame of his literary accomplishments, he sought from the public those honours only which were freely accorded, and aspired to those gratifications alone which he had already secured within his reach. Wherever the name of Gellert was pronounced it was accompanied with respect, wherever his writings were perused a still more solid testimony of approbation was afforded. His lectures were not less popular than instructive, and his conversation not less amiable than edifying. His biographer has very imperfectly performed all the more difficult parts which his office required. Through a cloud of moral and religious reflection it is impossible to discern even dimly the features which peculiarly characterized the piety of his subject; or to detect those amiable singularities which he is well known to have possessed. With mistaken zeal, the worthy writer has sought rather to improve the morals and enlighten the faith of his readers, than to