unquestionable : Lessing has not written one solitary word inconsistent with a firmest persuasion in the per- sonality of man. This great writer, indeed, belongs to a class of minds very easily misapprehended — minds which none but others in so far akin to them can ritrht- ly understand. Oftenest in "antagonism, or in a critical attitude, thinkers like Lessing do not generally express their ichole thought; they dwell only on the part of the common thought from which they dissent. So far, however, from being ruled by mere negations, it is cer- tainly more probable that their dissent arises from a completer view and possession of truth ; and that their effort is confined to the desire to separate truth from er- ror, or, at all events, from non-essentials." Not even the modest charge that Lessing in his latest j'ears, by reason of his affiliation with Nicolai and Mendelssohn, inclined towards liationalism, can, upon examination, be sub- stantiated. His own words from Vienna, whither he had gone on a call from Joseph H, who in 1769 invited all the great and learned men of the times to his capital for a general assemblage, addressed to Nicolai, who had taken this occasion to ridicule Vienna, and praise his own Berlin by contrast, go far to disprove any such as- sertion : " Say nothing, I pray you, about your Berlin freedom of thinking and writing. It is reduced simply and solely to the freedom of bringing to market as many gibes and jeers against religion as you choose, and a decent man must sjjeedily be ashamed to avail himself of this freedom." If Lessing is to be classed at all with Kationalists, we should first distinguish between the higher Kationalism of humanity and its doidjle-sighted compeer, trivial and vulgar Eationalism, and then assign Lessing a ]ilacc in that of the former, for to it alone can he be claimed to have rendered intentional aid.
Of his .service to German literature generally, it maybe truly said " he found Germany without a national litera- ture ; when he died it had one. He pointed out the ways in poetrv', philosophy, and religion by which the nation- al mind should go, and it has gone in them" ( Westm.Eev. Oct. 1871. p. 223). " Honor," says Menzel {Gei-man Lit. [transl. by C. C. Felton, Bost. 1840, 3 vols. 12mo], ii, 405), '■ was the principle of Lessing's whole life. He composed in the same spirit that he lived. He had to contend with obstacles his whole life long, but he never bowed down his head. He struggled not for posts of honor, but for his own independence. He might, with his ex- traordinarj' abilitj-, have rioted in the favor of the great, like Goethe, but he scorned and hated this favor as un- worthy a free man. His long continuance in jirivate life, his services Jis secretarj' of the brave general Tau- enzien during the Seven Years' War, and afterwards as librarian at WolfenbUttel. proved that he did not aspire
to high places He ridiculed Gellert, Klopstock,
and all who bowed their laurel-crowned heads to heads encircled with golden crowns ; and he himself shunned all contact with the great, animated by that stainless spirit of pride which acts instinctively upon the motto Koli me tamierer
Literature. — The complete works of Lessing were first published at Berlin (1771, 32 vols. 12mo). then with annotations by Lachmann (1839, 12 vols.), and by Von jMaltzahn (ISfw. 12 vols). See Karl Gotthelf Lessing, Lessimjs Biofjraphie (Berl. 1793, 2 vols.) ; Danzel. Less- ing, sein Lthen iind seine Werke (1850), continued by Guhrauer (18,53-541 ; Stahr, G. E. Lessimj, sein L<h<n ii. s. Werke (Oth ed. Berl. 1^<59, 2 vols. 12mo, transl, by E, P, Evans, late profc ssor at i\Iich. Univ., Boston, 18{i7, 2 vols. 12mo) ; H. L'itter, in the (wttineien Studien (1847); Eit- ter, Gesch. d. christl. Pliilos. ii, 480 sq, ; Bohtz, Lessimjs Pi-otestantismvs und Nath. der Weise ; Lanp;, Belif/ivse C/iaraktere,i, 2lb f>q.x Hope, Lessinrj und Guize; Eohr, Kleine t/ieoltu/ische Schriftei} (Schleusingen, 1841,vol. i); Schwarz, Lessinr/ nls Theolofje (1854) ; Gervinns, Niition- al-Litcr. d. Dentschen, iv, 318 sq.; Mohnike, Lessinf/iana (Lpz. 1843, Svo) ; Schlosser, Gescli. d.\W">.JnhrJnind. iii, 2; Sclimidt. Gesch. d.</eist. Lehens in Deutschld. I'on Leibnitz bis an f Lessing's Tod; Hurst's Hagenbach, Ch. History
LESSONS
385
LEUCOPETRIANS
iSfh and IM Cent. vol. i, lect. xiii ; For. Quart. Rerieu-, XXV, 233 sq. ; Westminst. Rev. 1871, Oct., art. viii ; Her- zog, Real-EncyUop. viii, 336 sq. ; Kahnis, Hist, of Ger- man Protestantism, p. 145 sq. (J. H. W.)
Les-gons. See Lectionarium.
Lestines. See Liptines.
Iietaah. See Lizard.
Lethe (\!i^r], oblivion), in the Grecian mythology, tlie stream of forgetfulness in the lower world, to which the departed spirits go, before passing into the Elysian fields, to be cleansed from all recollection of earthly sor- rows. See Hades.
Le'thech {T\\'^, le'thel; Septuag. vijitk), a Hebrew word which occurs in the margin of Hos. iii, 2 ; it signi- fies a measure for grain, so called from em ptijiufj ox pour- ing out. It is rendered " a half homer'" in the A. V. (af- ter the Vulg.), which is probably correct. See Homer.
Leti, Gregory, a historian, born at Milan in 1G30, who travelled in various countries, became Protestant at Lausanne, was for a time well received at the court of Charles H in England, and died at Amsterdam in 1701. He wrote, among other things. Life of Sixtus V: — Life of Philip II : — Monarchy of Louis XIV: — Life of Cromwell; — Life of Queen Elizabeth : — Life of Charles V.