which was at this time rather at low ebb. Franco was in the avantguard of political influence, and ever^'thing French was considered worthy of imitation ; but French influence was most completely manifest in the social life of the Germans, particularly in their literature, aiid, as a late writer in the Westminster Revieto (Oct. 1871, p. 212) has it, "at no time, perhaps, was it more difficult to form and express original views in Germany." Klop- stock had acquired the English language, and in his readings of English works his eye had fallen upon the immortal production of jMilton. Trained from his youth to a religious life, and destined for the ministry, he nat- urally decided to present his nation with a like work that should standby the side of the English production. If no more, he was determined that the German mind shoidd turn towards English literature, and drink at its fountains, rather than be any longer subjected to that cold, correct, and imimaginative spirit which had hith- erto tyrannized over their thoughts and habits. Bod- mer, the great leader of the so-called " Swiss school" of German Uterature, and others of the Swiss school, were already fiuniishing his countrymen with able translations of English poets; among other works, he translated Blil- ton's Pcn-adhe Lost. In 1745 Klopstock went to the University of Jena to study theology, but, amid the pur- suit of studies in divinity, his attention at everj- conven- ient moment was occupied with the great work which he had projected. During his residence at that insti- tution he composed the first three cantos in prose ; but after his removal to Leipzig (in 1746), having made trial of hexameters in imitation of the melodious strains of Homer and Yirgil, and being pleased with the success of the experiment, he resolved to execute the whole poem in that measure. Finally, in 1748, the first three cantos of his Messiah were published in the Bremer Beitrdge, a joiu'nal which had been started by men de- termined, like Klopstock, to break loose from that .'hal- low despotism which, under the leadership of the pe- dantic Gottsched, had so long hung over them. The fame of Klopstock, whom the year previous such men as Gellcrt, Kabener, Hagedoni, and Gleim had pointed out as the man likely and competent to inaugurate a new era in German poetry, now spread far and wide; j for that poem enjoyed an extraordinary jwpularity among all who could appreciate the attractions of ele- gant diction and high devotional feeling. It was the I subject of admiration in every circle — even in the pid- pit it attracted notice, and was often quoted with ap- plause. It gratified its pious author by its subser- viency to the purposes of practical religion, i'or many portions of it were set to sacred music, and sung at the family worship of the Germans, and many of its finest passages were introduced to give point and liveliness to 1 the pages of religious and devotional works of that day. j It raised the name of Kloi)stock to the highest pinnacle I of renown, insomuch that all classes of his countrymen, I even the peasantrj', learned to understand and love him as a sacred poet. His fame was spread even to foreign countries — for in 1750, when, on the invitation of some friends, he went to spend some time in German Switz- erland (at Zurich), in the enjoyment of its wild and ro- mantic scenery, he was received with a degree of re- spect almost bordering on veneration. While in that country his mind seems to have taken a patriotic ten- dency : the ancient Hermann (the Arminius of Tacitus) became his favorite hero, whose deeds he aftcr\vards cel- ebrated in some dramatic works. In Denmark the min- ister Bernstorff had become acquainted with the tliree cantos of the Messiah, and Klopstock was offered a pen- sion of 8400 by the Danish king on condition of coming to Copenhagen, and there finishing his poem. He set out in 1751, travelled through Brunswick and Hamburg, and at the latter place formed an intimacy with Marga- retlia ]Moller, daughter of a respectable merchant. At Copenhagen he was received l>y Bernstorff with the greatest respect, and introchiced to the king, Frederick V, whom he accompanied on his travels. In 1754 he
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went to Hamburg, which was at this time a sort of lit- erary capital of Germany, and more particularly of its northern half, as 'Weimar became some years later of the southern half. Not only could Klopstock claim it as his residence, but it also contained for some time the great Lessing, who, by the way, was no mean defendant of Klopstock in the attacks made against the latter by Gottsched and his school; Herder occasionally visited the Hanse city, and a number of lesser lights, such as Voss, Claudius, Keimerus, the Stolbergs, etc., gathered there about the two chief luminaries. " Klopstock," says iNIrs. ^\'ild^worth {Christum Sin;jcrs of Germamj, p. 326 sq.), speaking of his residence at Hamburg, " enjoy- ed a sort of reverence not unlike that paid to Dr. John- son in England, but in some respects more flattering, as he was a man of whom it was much easier to make a popular, and especially a ladies' hero." Here the Messiah was at last tinished in 1773, having thus occupied twen- ty-seven years in preparation. A complete edition of his odes and lyrics was brought out, and here he devoted the autumn of his long life to the study and purification of the German language and its grammar. He had always been a passionate lover of his country, but this did not prevent him from taking the keenest interest in the Amer- ican War of Independence, and the opening of the French Revolution. He was among those who hailed the ear- lier years of the latter with eager sympathy, and the hope of a coming brighter a;ra lor humanity, and who afterwards underwent the bitterness of profound disap- pointment. The National Assembly had marked their recognition of his friendship for the French people by according him the rights of a French citizen, but when the terrible massacres of 1793 took place he sent back to them his diploma. In Hamburg he married his "be- loved" Margaretha, with whom, however, he enjoyed only a short union; she died in childbed in 1758. In 1771 he was honored with the appointment of Danish ambassador to Hamburg, and flourished at this place the remainder of his days, dividing his time between his public duties and the pursuits of literature. In 1792 Klopstock marrietl for the second time, choosing the Frau von Winthern, an old love of his, who had mean- while become a widow, and who survived him. He died in 1803, and was buried ('March 22) by Hamburg with royal honors, a distinction which in Germany is gener- ally accorded only to roj'al personages.