LESSING, GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM, was born on the 22nd of January 1729 at Kameutz in Upper Lusatia, of which place his father was pastor. His attachment to reading displayed itself from his ,arlicst childhood, and he was a devourer of books at. an age when )there are mere school-boys. Of his extraordinary diligence in study r sufficient idea may be formed when it is stated that while at the school at Meissen he perused a number of classic authors besides those which entered into the course there adopted, and further translated the third and fourth books of Euolid, and drew up a history of mathe matics. lie continued at that seminary till the middle of 1746, when, on taking leave, of it, ho delivered a discourse ' De Mathematica Barbarorum: From Meissen he was sent to the University of Leipzig, where, though he attended many courses of lectures on various branches of learning, his application was not very regular, his attentiou now beginning to be directed to other pursuits. He began here to form several literary friendships and connections, and acquired a decided taste for the theatre, much to the dissatisfaction of his parents and his sister, who warned him against it as being not only trifling but sinful ; while it was also with the extremeet difficulty that the family could contribute any allowance for his support. This letter circumstance convinced Leasing that it was time for him to think of shifting for himself. Accordingly he determined to devote his talents to poetry, criticism, and belles-lettres, as that field of literature which had been leant of all cultivated by his countrymen, and where, besides having few rivals, he might employ his pen with greater advantage to others as well as to himseiC His first productions were one or two minor dramatio pieces, which wero printed in a journal entitled Ermunteruogen sum Vergniigen.' The departure of his friend Mylius for Berlin determined Leasing to follow him thither, as he hoped there to find himself more favoured by opportunities for literary undertakings. In conjunction with Mylius he began a quarterly publication, 'Beitreige zur Historie des Theaters,' wherein they intended to take an historical and critical view of the drains throughout Europe, a subject then hardly touched upon. The work however was not carried on beyond its fourth number. About the same time he published some of his early poems, and act about studying Spanish, from which he shortly after translated Huarte's 'Examen de los Ingenios; but he might easily have selected something more likely to fix public attention. Perhaps he showed still less judg
ment when, in conjunction with his younger brother, Johann Gottlieb, he commenced a Latin translation of Klopstock's Messiah,' as if be should be rendering his mother tongue and his countrymen a service by diverting them from the original poem—one that forms an epoch in and gave such an impulse, to the German language. Fortunately the brothers learned that a similar translation was undertaken by the Danish chaplain at Madrid, on which they abandoned the task. At this time Leasing was residing at Wittenberg, where his brother was pursuing his studies ; but he again returned to Berlin, and formed a close intimacy with Moses Mendelssohn and Nicolai, which had a highly beneficial influence upon all the three. Six eyes, as oua of his bio graphers expresses it, see more than two, especially when ens pair of them is fixed upon what is at a distance, another upon what is close by, and the third upon what lies betweeu those extremes. It is not always that such literary partnerships are successful, but in this case there was sympathy of minds and dispositions, together with unity of purpose. One of the first results of Lessing's and Mandelsaohn'e joint studies was the dissertation 'Pope als Metaphysiker ' (1754), the object of which was to show that the English poet bad no fixed philosophical system.
Omitting mention of his other literary connections, among whom Rainier stood high in his private esteem, and also of his various trans lations and less important productions, belonging to this period, we pass on to his 'Miss Sara Sampson,' the first specimen of domestio tragedy in German literature. In vain did the critics object to it, that it was a dramatic nondescript, and that it was made up of remi niscences of English novels and tragedies. Little cared the public how it had been produced : it was enough for them that they felt its power and ifs beauties : it accordingly not only excited a great sensation in Germany, but was translated in other countries. Between this and his next dramatic masterpieces, 'Minna von Barnhelm' and 'Emilia Galotti,' which latter, though composed in 1763, was not ultimately dismissed from the hands of its author till 1772, was an interval which, so far from have been passed unoccupied, astonishes us by the multitude and variety of the subjects on which Leasing then employed his pen.