HOFFJIANN, ERNST THEODOR WILHELM (or AMADEUS, the name he assumed instead of Wilhelm), was born on the 24th of January 1770, at Konigsberg, in East Prussia. Soon after his birth his father and mother separated, and he was brought up by an uncle, by whom he was induced, against his inclination, which led him to the cultivation of music and drawing, to study the law. From 1796 to 1800 he continued to prosecute his studies with great diligence in the courts at Glogau in Silesia and in Berlin, still however pursuing his favourite studies at every possible interval. In March 1800 he was appointed assessor to the government of Posen, and thence, through the patronage of General Zastrow, removed to be a judge at Plock in Poland in 1802, and to Warsaw In a similar capacity in 1803. Hoffman was an excellent magistrate, and highly esteemed in Warsaw, but on the entry of the French troops into that town in 1806, he found himself at once without employment, without fortune, and without the prospect of any office In his then distracted native country. Ile determined boldly to make his other acquirements serviceable to his support. Ile possessed remarkable talents : he was a poet, a musician, and an artist, but of an eccentric and hypochondriacal turn of mind, and all he produced partook of that character. His writings were fantastic, his music wild and capricious, his drawings caricatures. He taught music, wrote articles for the ' Allgemeloe Musicalischo Zeitung' of Leipzig, and accepted In 1808 the situation of musical director of the theatre at Bamberg. Afterwards, in 1813, he filled the same office to the Dresden theatre till 1815. At Dresden he was a witness of the bombardment of the town when the allies endeavoured to dispossess the French. Here be displayed remarkable coolness, sitting at a window with a companion, and drinking wine. Ile has left a few 'ketches of these events, which are vivid, but not so full as might he wished from a pen so capable of giving an original picture on a largo scale. After the downfal of Napoleon 1., and the complete restoration of
the Prussian kingdom, he was, upon petition, re-admitted as judge, and soon afterwards appointed to a scat in the royal justiciary court at Berlin, which he filled with great credit to himself as a judge till his death on the 21st of July 1822, which took place after an illness of considerable length, that had deprived him of the use of his limbs, but even under this affliction his fancy continued active, and lie dic tated several pieces, among which one called ' The Recovery' contains some affecting allusions to his own condition.
Hoffmann was small and weak of body, but for many years he laboured with extreme ardour, notwithstanding his convivial habits, his addiction to the free use of wine and tobacco, and his extreme nervous sensibility, which at times operated so strongly as to approach closely to insanity. Besides his professional acquirements, which were highly estimated by his colleagues, he composed the music and text of many operas : the first was the music only to Gothe'a Scherz, List, nod Bache' (Jest, Trick, and Revenge), which was performed at Posen in 1800. He also produced a number of caricatures, highly popular at the time, of the foreign invaders of his country, and especially of Bonaparte. His first series of tales appeared at Bamberg in 1814, Phantasieatiicken in Callota Manier.' They were followed by Nachtstiicke,• the Serapionabrilder,' and the fragment of a novel composed upon his death-bed, called The Adversary.' They are all distinguished by a fertile wilducss of imagination, considerable humour, vivid descriptions of the beauties of nature, much insight into the inconsistencies of the human character, and sly sarcasm ; but they also contain several well-drawn and highly natural characters. Ilia works form 15 vols. in 18mo, of which a portion have been translated into Frcoch, and many of the single talcs have been translated into English ; clever versions of two, ' The Sandman' and 'St. Sylvester's Night,' appeared in 'Blackwood's Magazine.'