Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/500

 480 L E S S I N G true comparison between a poetic and a philosophic con ception ; and they threw much light on the aims both of Lsibnitz and of Pope. Other Berlin friends of Lessing were Nicolai, the bookseller, and Eamler, the author of many well-known odes. He had also made the acquaint ance of Gleim, the Halberstadt poet, and Ewald Christian von Kleist, a Prussian officer, whose fine poem, Der Fruhliug, had won for him Lessing s warm esteem. In Leiusic, Lessing was asked by Witikler, a wealthy young merchant, to accompany him in a foreign tour, which was to last three years. As he offered liberal terms, Lessing consented; and early in the summer of 175G they started far England. They did not, however, get beyond Amsterdam, for after the outbreak of the Seven Years War they heard that Winkler s house was occupied by the Prussian commandant ; and he deemed it necessary to hasten back. After some time Winkler was offended by Lessing s intimacy with certain Prussian officers, and suddenly announced to him that he must consider their engagement at an end. Lessing demanded compensation, and iu the end the courts decided in his favour, but not until the case had dragged on for about six years. In the meantime it detained him in Leipsic, and, as there was little opportunity for earning money by literature in a city occupied by foreign troops, he went through a period of extreme hardship. During these anxious months he begin ths study of mediaeval poetry, in which some, interest had bssn awakened by the Swiss school of critics ; he also translated several English writings, and worked occasion ally for the BMiothek, a periodical edited by Nicolai. Fortunately he had an opportunity of developing his friendship with Kleist, who happened to be stationed in Leipsic, Kleist, a man of truly heroic temper, with the simplicity of a child, was powerfully attracted by Lessing s frank and noble nature, and Lessing loved him with an ardour which was excited by no other friend, not even by Mendelssohn. Kleist s regiment being ordered to new quarters early in 1758, Lessing decided not to remain behind him, and, saying farewell to his friend (who was mortally wounded in tho following year at the battle of Kunersdorf), he returned once more to Berlin. His third residence in Berlin was made memorable by the Liter aturbriefe, a series of critical essays (written in the form of letters to a wounded officer) on the principal works that had appeared since the beginning of the Seven Years War. The scheme was suggested by Nicolai, by whom the Letters were published. Those written by Lessing manifested far higher intellectual power than anything he had yet accomplished. The critical principles set forth in the Literaturbriefe are now universally recognized, but they were then new, and even at the present day they seem to derive fresh vitality from the force, precision, and animation with which he expresses them. He insisted especially on the necessity of truth to nature in the imaginative presentation of the facts of life, and in one letter he boldly proclaimed the superiority of Shakespeare to Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. At the same time he marked the immutable conditions to which even genius must submit in order to move enduring sympathies. While in Berlin at this time, he edited with Ramler a selection from the writings of Logau, a vigorous epigrammatist of the 17th century, and introduced to the German public The War Songs of a Grenadier, by Gleim. He admired the vigour of these songs, but in several private letters protested against the vehemence of the author s patriotism patriotism being a virtue which, he thought, he &quot;could do very well without.&quot; In 1759 he published Philotas, a prose tragedy ; and in the same year appeared a complete collection of his fables, with an essay on the essential idea of the fable. The latter is one of his best essays in criticism, denning with perfect lucidity what is meant by &quot; the action &quot; in works of imagination, and distinguishing the action of the fable on the one hand from that of the epic and the drama on the other. His theory prevented him from lending poetic interest to his own fables, but they surpass the works of all other German fabulists in the depth and variety of the moral truths which they are intended to enforce. In 1760, weary of incessant writing, and feeling that change of scene and work was necessary for his health, Lessing went to Breslau to apply for the post of secretary to General Tauentzien, to whom Kleist had introduced him in Leipsic. Tauentzien was not only a general in the Prussian army, but governor of Breslin, and director of the mint. He willingly granted the vacant office to Lessing, who retained it for more than four years. He thus found himself in circumstances wholly different from those to which he had been hitherto accustomed. He associated chiefly with Prussian officers, went much into society, and became passionately fond of the gaming table, where he played for such high stakes that even General Tauentzien expostulated with him. While, however, he seemed to be wasting his energies, he never lost sight of his true goal. He gradually collected a library of about GOOD volumes (which he was ultimately obliged to sell) ; and after the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763 he resumed more enthusiastically than ever the studies which had been partly interrupted. In investigating the early history of Christianity, he obtained a profound knowledge of the fathers ; and a remarkable letter to Mendelssohn shows that he had penetrated more deeply than any con temporary thinker into the significance of the philosophy of Spinoza. In 1764 he was prostrated by a severe illness, during which he reviewed, in a rather sorrowful spirit, his past life, and formed many serious resolutions for the future. Before this time he had worked hard at Laocoon, and in fresh spring mornings he had sketched in a garden the plan of Minna von Barnhelm. His parents were now in exceedingly straitened circumstances, and often appealed to him for aid. He responded generously to their demands, but they greatly overrated his power to help them, as they assumed that he intended to remain permanently in General Tauentzien s service. In reality, he had always regarded the engagement as a temporary one, and in 1765 he resigned his office, and left Breslau. It seemed not improbable that he might find a suitable appointment in Dresden, but he was again compelled, much against his will, to become a resident of Berlin, whither he went after a brief visit to Kamenz and Leipsic. His friends exerted themselves to obtain for him the office of keeper of the royal library, but Frederick had not forgotten Lessing s quarrel with Voltaire, and declined to consider his claims, although, about the time when Lessing went to Breslau, he had confirmed his election as a foreign member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. During the two years which Lessing now 7 spent in the Prussian capital he vas restless and unhappy, yet it was during this period that he published two of his greatest works Laocoon in 1766, and Minna von Earnlie.lm in 1767. Laocoon ranks as a classic not only in German but in European literature, and its style alone, which is as near perfection as anything Lessing ever wrote, would almost entitle it to this position. His central aim is to define by analysis the limitations of poetry and the plastic arts. Many of his conclusions have been corrected and extended by later criticism ; but he indicated more decisively than any of his predecessors the fruitful principle that each art is subject to definite conditions, and that it can accomplish great results only by limiting itself to its special function. The most valuable parts of the work are those which relate to poetry, of which he had a