Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-22

|
to assail mediocrity and give no quarter.
1t is, therefore, all the more to his credit
that he was never revolutionary in his
proceedings; he always started from the
existing state of things. took account Of
present facts, and with the genuine zeal
| of reform aimed only at introducing
| gradual improvements. Neither in poet
| ry nor in science was he a radical innO-
| vator; he never lost his inner balance
nor that rare tact distinguishing the pos
sible and the useful in which fiery
poets nature is so often deficient
The impulse to go forward drove him
from place Ito place and he was not COM
fortably settled till late in life. Though
| adverse circumstances may have had
much to do with this, yet it was mainly
the result of his temperament. He did
not like to bind himself, he readily en-
tered into relations and as quickly
broke them off, and was fond of seek
ing new surroundings and new inter-
ests. He passed through many varied
experiences. many illusions and disap-
| pointments, and was like roaming sea-
| farer, gathering treasures from all
| countries, but finding no fixed habita-
( ton anywhere.
Lessings rapid development began
| early: even the young scholar was
step in his emancipation, for the very
| pendantry which he ridicules therein
| was his own. AS a boy he loved books,
| and school life at first strengthened his
| propensity towards Improbable learn
ing.
| With him the spirit of modern en-
lightenment breathed life into the dry
bones of scholarship, while, mathemat-
les, natural science and poetry all help
| eG to emancipate him.
He was associated with actors, which
gave great offense to his parents, and
finally he left Leipzig to try his for
| tunes in Berlin, where he earned
scanty but honorable livelihood by his
pen. writing reviews, making transla-
! tions and publishing original works,
poems and dramas.
Shortly after his arrival in Berlin he
made the acquaintance of Voltaire,
the great philosopher, who was favor
! ably impressed with him and employed
him in making translatfons, and is said
to have invited him daily to dinner If
this be true it was an enormous advant-
age for young beginner like Lessing
| to be the guest of the greatest writer
in all Europe and of the king of
| Prussia's friend.
If Lessing had summed up his plans
and views at that time they probably
would have borne a great resemblance
! to Voltaire. He wished to be a free
author, not to influence literature from
! the professional chair, but to be inde-
| pendent of the academic tradition and
| like Noltaire, to rely on the intrinsic
power of his pen.
Yet for good or evil Lessing's relation
! to Voltaire was an important element
! in his life. Personally he afterwards
broke with him altogether, using Vol
| taire's teaching and influence as a lever
! by which to raise himself to independ-
ence, and we may judge the esteem in
which Lessing held Voltaire by his little
| epitaph he wrote on him after his death
which occurred in 177S.
! Here lieth one, if We truly prate,
! Ye pous folk, here lieth all too late,
Forgive his Henriade 0 God of mercies,
Forgive his tragedies, and little verses;
1 will not ask forgiveness for the rest.
OF what he wrote, for that was much
the best.
Lessing also paid much attention to
popular poetry, and asked himself if it
would not be better to atone for other
writer's sins, and restore the connection
which they. in their conceit, had so
wantonly destroyed, between the regu-
lar stage and the old forms of drama
represented by the wandering COM
| medianS
In his projected play of Faust, he pro-
| posed to make the magical DR.. Faustus,
| a character for the regular stage. He
meant to endow him with passionate
| Of tryYf h,,t 111,%
from hell an angel was to declare at
the end of the play: God has not given
to man the noblest of impulses in or
der to make him eternally unhappy"
Lessing now began also to work out
| the plan of Miss Sarah Sampson, but
| he never succeeded in getting beyond
| the mere sketch. For the time being,
the Seven Years war, laid hold on his
imagination. as it also gave new i'm
| pulses to his life.
At the close of the war and while in
Breslau Lessing gave himself up to
various diversions, and even to the
passion OF gambling.
At the same time he was carrying on
important studies, and was preparing
himself for two of his greatest achieve
ments, sLaocoon' and 'Minna Won Barn
helm which he published in 1866 and
1867. during third sojourn in Berlin.
The one reveals his Hellenic tenden-
cies. while the other gives expression
tc his natural sentiments.
The former is connected with general
European culture, while the latter is
founded on the special interests of the
German nation, and marks the culmin-
ating point of the influence of the Seven
Years War upon German letters.
But Winckelman's first work incited
Iessing to devote his attention to the
study of ancient art, and a feeling that
a review of aesthetic criticism up to that
tilA0 was much needed led him to make
tk important researches embodied in
LAGOON.
The work was intended to fill three
volumes, of which, however, only one
I.nsSinfr could ~ LITTLE