LICHTWER, MAGNUS GOTTFRE1D, born at Wurzen, in Saxony, January 30th, 1719, though only one of the minor poets of Germany, may be considered almost the first in the rank of its fabulist& When only two years old he lost his father, but his mother's circumstances enabled her to bestow upon him a good education. At her death, in 1737, the further charge of his studies devolved upon his guardian, the Stiftarath Zahn, by whom he was sent to Leipzig, where he applied himself more particularly to jurisprudence, but also made himself master of French and Italian. In 1741 he went to Dresden, in the hope of there obtaining some office or appointment, but after fruitlessly waiting two years, quitted it for Wittenberg, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws, and delivered lectures in jurisprudence, until the breaking of a bloodvessel compelled him to abstain from the exertion of speaking in public. He now took up his pen and produced his 'Fables,' the first edition of which appeared anonymously in 1748.
The following year he quitted Wittenberg, and went to Halberstadt, where his mother's brother was one of the dignitaries of the cathedral. This change proved highly advantageous to him, being the means of his obtaining some important charges. In 1758 he published a new edition of his 'Fables,' with his name prefixed to it, and also his didactic poem 'Das Recht der Vernunft ; and in 1762 a Translation of Minutius Felix,' with notes. He died July 7tb, 1783. The poem above mentioned is by no means equal to many others of the same class in the language : it is an exposition of Wolf's philosophy, formally treated, instead of the dryness of the subject being at all relieved or adorned by poetical illustration of the doctrine. His 'Fables,' on the contrary, are master-pieces; many of them strikingly original in subject, terse and pointed in style, aud admirable in their moral.