Being now well known and esteemed as a poet in Got tingen, Burger had an opportunity of cultivating his genius in the society of a number of young men of dis tinguished merit, then residing at the same university, several of whom afterwards made a conspicuous figure on the literary theatre of Germany. Among these may be mentioned the poets, Voss, Iloltv, and the two counts Stolberg. To these friends he communicated most of his pieces belOrc their publication, and was, no doubt, indebted to them for many useful hints and emendation,. In the year 1772, lie obtained, through the interest of his friends, the situation of an officer of justice in the territory of Alten-Gleiclien, in the neighbourhood of Gottingen. In 1774, he married his first wife, a (laugh ter of the Hanoverian law-offiLer, Leonhurt, at Niedeck The place which had been procured for hint, howc“.1., was neither of sufficient emolument, nor sufficiently con genial with the disposition and habits of the poet, to afford him much or permanmit gratification ; lie there fore resigned it in 1784 in disgust, and in the following year returned to Gottingen.
During the period of his residence in the country., he composed his Famous ballad of Leonora, and translated several of the books of Homer's Iliad into Iambic blank verse, which were published in the German Museum. Neither this translation, however, nor one which lie terwards attempted in hexameter verse, was ever com pleted ; nor is it much to be regretted, that he should have relinquished a task, which was afterwards so well performed by count Frederick Stolberg, and by In 1778, he undertook the sole superintendence of the Gottingen poetical almanack ; the former editor, Goe kingle, having associated himself with Voss, in the ma nagement of a similar publication at Hamburgh. In the same year, he also published the first colleetion of his poems, which contained several new pieces, in addition to those which had already appeared in different periodi cal works.
On his return to Gottingen, in 1734, our author, whose pecuniary circumstances were far from being in a pros perous state, determined to devote himself entirely to his favourite literary pursuits, and to endeavour to qua lify himself for the situation of a professor in the unhet sity. With this object in view, he began to read lectures On philosophy and the belles lettres, and to give private instruction to individual students. In the following yea: (1785), he married the youngest sister of his former wife, who had been carried oil' by consumption about twelve months before ; a step which exposed him to much cen sure on the score of morality, but which appears to has e been to himself a source of great comfort and happiness. But his happiness was of short duration ; for his beloved partner, in whom his whole affections seem to have been centred, died of a hectic fever a few months after the celebration of the marriage. The blow fell heavily upon Burger ; and, indeed, from this period, his life exhibit, little else than a record of uninterrupted bodily and men tal distress. The animal spirits, which had hitherto sup
p torted hint throurrl poverty, and privations of differ( ::• kinds, seem now to have almost entirely forsaken Linn ; and the stream of life, which had previously flowed along with a brisk, if not an equable current, now became dull and flaggv, and mingled with the muddy waters of me lancholy' and affliction. For some time, he devoted him self to the study of the works of the philosopher of Ku ningsberp,-, and read public lecture's on the critical philo sophy. Strong, however, as was the desire which he constantly-manifested to excel as a teacher of philosophy, the infirm state of his health would not permit him • , bestow that intense application upon those pursuits, w hich their nature necessarily required ; and his exertions in this field of discipline, therefore, do not appear to have been attended with any remarkable success.
In the year 1787, his health derived some benefit from Medicine and he had the satisfaction cf at length eb tabling from the philosophical faculty the degree of doc tor. Two years afterwards, he was appointed an ex traordinary professor of philosophy, though without any salary ; and, in the same year, he published the second edition of his poems, which comprehended, in addition to the contents of the previous edition, his Holies Leid, which he appears to have considered as his best and most finished production,—two poems in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the university of Gottingen, and several other pieces.
In 1790, Burger most unadvisedly entered into a third marriage with a Swabian girl, after a poetical courtship, in which the first advances were made by the lady. The marriage proved a most unhappy one, and was attended with consequences which it is believed contributed to shorten the existence of the poet.
In 1792, he was judicially divorced from his wife, af ter having suffered a great deal of misery during the lat ter period of the subsistence of the union. A short while before the separation, Burger had caught a cold, which produced a hoarseness that adhered to him during the remainder of his life, and deprived him of the faculty of speaking in public. llis situation now became truly de plorable. Without any certain means of subsistence, he was compelled to earn a scanty and precarious livelihood, by translating out of foreign languages for the booksellers. Meanwhile, his strength rapidly declined. In the month of October 1793, he was forced, by a feverish complaint, to confine himself to bed. Symptoms of consumption ensued ; and, after a painful and lingering illness, which he bore with becoming fortitude, he expired on the 8th of June 1794, in the 47th year of his age. A small mo nument was erected to his memory in Ulric's garden at Gottingen, a spot which the poet was in the habit of fre quenting at early hours, and which is now used as a pub lic promenade and place of amusement.