unaffected, the sweetness and Letters, and a Treatise on the amenity of his verses, the natural Epistolary Style, Didactic Poexpression of a young poet seek-ems; Sacred Songs and Hymns. ing to please his readers, to instruct and to make them better, who was playful without offence, whose laughter was never tinged with bitterness, but whose smiles were those of friendship or compassion; all these qualities were so attractive that from month to month the public taste for his works became more lively and more general."

The character of his fables is thus summed up by his biogra pher." The choice of subjects, the moral, the style, all please, all do honor to the judgment, the understanding, and the heart of the poet." And in proof of the effect which they produced among his countrymen, the fol lowing interesting anecdote is related :

"In the beginning of one winter he saw a Saxon peasant drive up to his door a cart load

ed of him himself, whether he was not the gentleman who composed such fine tales? On the answer he received, the peasant, joy sparkling in his eyes, with many excuses for the liberty he took, made Gellert a pre

But Gellert's exertions were not confined to literary objects; he was ready to embrace every opportunity of reclaiming a fel-ed with fire wood, who demandlow-creature from his sins. His biographer has preserved a very interesting account of the assiduity, tenderness, and judgment, with which Gellert attended, during a severe illness, a young man, who had run into every excess of profligacy and pro-sent of the contents of his cart, faneness. His pious efforts were blessed with success. The young man did not recover; but Gellert had the satisfaction of seeing that his death was that of a true penitent.

as a feeble mark of his gratitude for the pleasure he had received from reading his tales."

When writing his sacred songs," he never set himself" observes the biographer, "to this employment without a serious preparation, and without having his heart previously filled with the sentiment he wished to

received by all the friends of religion, and even by Roman Catholics, among whom Gellert's writings were exempted from the common sentence of exclusion passed upon heretical works.

In 1745-6, Gellert took his degree in the belles lettres, and thereby acquired a right of giving public lectures, On this occasion he published a disser-express." They were eagerly tation on fabulous poetry, and the principal fabulists. The next twelve years of his life, it seems, produced his fables; some dramatic pieces, written with a view to reform the theatre a romance, called the Swedish Countess, calculated to prove that this species of composition may be employed to amend, instead of corrupting the heart; Consolations to Valetudinarians; Moral Poems ;

Meanwhile this amiable man suffered greatly in his health. He was attacked in 1762 by an hypochondriac affection, and this was greatly increased, when the few friends of kindred minds,

(Clopstock, Gartner, Rabener, | guide and the source of all his comforts.

and Adolphus Schlegel,) by whose society he had been enlivened, quitted Leipsick, and were dispersed throughout Germany.

This severe affliction, however, did not diminish his exertions; even the works which he published were merely the occupation of his leisure hours; he devoted the greatest part of his time to the instruction and improvement of the academical youth. He taught belles lettres to his disciples, explained to them the rules of poetry and eloquence, and exercised them in composing according to these rules."

His hypochondriac affection rendered his life' a continued series of suffering; it baffled the art of medicine, and was but little relieved by the baths of Lanchstradt and Carlsbadt, which he used in 1753 and 1754. He sought for consolation in religion, and though he did not succeed in overcoming the horrors of imagination, we have no doubt that he thereby diminished their power. On the subject of Gellert's habitual melancholy, the biographer makesa judicious reflection.

"Many people in reading the life of Gellert, have been painfully affected by the idea of the almost incredible sufferings and

man, who was so pious, and so good, who chiefly delighted in glorifying and imitating the au

"These lessons were universally admired; scholars of every rank, especially the young no-melancholy, experienced by this bility of various countries, who studied at Leipsick, ran eagerly to hear Gellert." In 1751, he obtained, togeth-thor of his being, by spreading er with a pension, the appoint- happiness around him. But if ment of professor extraordinary Gellert had been less an object in philosophy, and began to give of compassion, he would cerpublic lectures in poetry and elo-tainly have been less great, less quence to a very numerous au- admired, and of course less usedience. In these he was care- ful." ful to "inspire his pupils no less with the love of virtue, than of the sciences." Nor did he confine himself to public instructions, all had free access to him; and, "whilst with all the marks of the tenderest interest, he recommended to them piety and virtue, as the true road to happiness, his own example and the purity of his manners added the greatest weight to his exhortations." Thus did this excellent man carry religion into every part of his life and conduct; it was his constant companion, his

We may add, that, though this world is a place of trial rather than of recompense, the sufferings of Gellert were, in some degree counterbalanced and alleviated by the numerous testimonies of gratitude which he received from those whom his writings had brought back to the path of duty. Many expressed their thanks in person; many by letter; many by handsome presents. A Silesian gentleman (the Baron de Craussen) offered him a very considerable pension; and, when Gellert de

clined, bestowed it on his moth-ter to Count Bruhl, Gellert

er.

strongly opposed this endeavour " to procure me," as he expressed it, "a pension in such

As Gellert advanced in years he found his imagination cool; and, abandoning the Muses, re-distressing times, in which our solved to compose a course of country suffers so much mismoral lectures. These added ery." The chair of professor much to his celebrity; his audi- in ordinary becoming vacant by ence consisted often of four the death of Dr. Muller in 1761, hundred persons; sometimes of was offered to Gellert; but he more. Nor was he less useful positively declined it from the by his familiar and friendly in- most laudable motive; he fell, tercourse, with his pupils, and that in his infirm state of health by his advice to numerous cor- he was unequal to the duties of respondents, than by his public the situation. "His wants," lectures. The confidence re-observe the biographer, "were posed in him was indeed most few, because he was very modeextraordinary. "Fathers ask-rate in all his desires, and that ed him for directions in regard he neither sought the convento the education of their sons; iences nor amusements, which mothers wished to receive his others consider as necessary. instructions as to the mode of He confided in Divine Provi forming the hearts and under-dence." In fact scarcely a year standings of their daughters, passed in which he did not and frequently consulted him receive very considerable preconcerning the offers of mar-sents by the post and on the riage which were made for them; young men requested him to advise them on their studies; to him many persons who had doubts concerning religion, addressed themselves to have them cleared up; and frequently people of the world asked his advice how to resist the temptations to which they were exposed." To persons of every station of life his writings were useful; and by all ranks his character was respected and beloved.

death of M. de Mascow, his pension of four hundred and eighty-five crowns was transferred to the reluctant Gellert. This increased revenue supplied him with those comforts which his increasing infirmities demanded; though slender as his income was till then, he had never wanted; he had even made it sufficient to relieve the necessity of a friend, or the distress of the poor."

Towards the close of Gellert's life an unhappy spirit of discord arose in the university: he alone, by exhortations and expostulations, succeeded in quelling it. Notwithstanding his mental depression, he enjoy

As yet Gellert held no other situation in the university than that of professor extraordinary, no chair of professor in ordinary having become vacant in the faculty to which he belonged.ed, by the force of religion, Mr. Mitchell, English envoy to much inward tranquillity the last the court, solicited an increase five years of his life; and, as of his emoluments, but in a let- he perceived the slow approach

of death, his diligence in bene- | vertheless, preserved a constant sense of his imperfections, and of his unworthiness in the sight of the Supreme Being. He fix

tude to which he was approaching; to console his friends,

fitting others, and his zeal for their spiritual welfare seem to have increased. "The lessons," to use the elegant lan-ed his thoughts on the beattiguage of his biographer, which came from his lips had the charm of a fine summer's eve-distracted by the conviction that ning, at the moment when the medical art tried in vain to prosun sheds his last beams, and long his days, he conversed his absence deprives nature of with them on the glorious prosits lustre, without taking from pect before him. its beauty." He prepared his moral lesson for the press, but did not live to superintend their publication. Still his malady gained ground. He twice again, by the advice of his physicians, visited Carlsbadt. Every means, which friendship and medical skill could suggest was tried in vain. The elector presented him with the gentlest and most safe of his horses; testifying an anxiety for his recovery wor-peace, so celestial a joy, that it thy of the imitation of those, whose situation in life enables them to encourage talents and piety. But Gellert was not long able to use it; a painful constipation was added to his other dis-brance all the particular blesorders, and he expired in 1769, with the triumphant composure of a Chirstian.

The narrative of his behavfor in his last hours is minute and exceedingly affecting: we should only weaken its effect by attempting to compress it; we shall therefore give it entire.

"When Gellert had completed his temporal arrangements, mastering his weakness and his pains, he sat up and uncovering his head, the hairs of which already begun to whiten, he pronounced aloud such fervent prayers, animated with so deep a sentiment of humility, of gratitude, and of love for his God; his looks raised to heaven expressed such a profound

seemed to his friends as if they saw the image of a holy patriarch, a Jacob on his death-bed blessing his children. He endeavored to recal to his remem

sings he had received from Divine Goodness; he specifically named all those of his friends who were still alive, many of his absent disciples, and recommended them in his prayers to the Divine favor and protection.. But he did not wholly confine himself to the blessings he had received; he recalled to his mind his faults, his weaknesses, and that with such a degree of

"During his last illness, a firm but ever humble confidence in the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, appeared to ele-humility, as produced an indelivate him above himself; and melancholy, the constant companion of his life, did not dare follow him to the confines of eternity. He was delivered from his apprehensions, and ne

ble impression on the minds of those present. This prayer was pronounced with a weak, but very intelligible voice; and and the fire of devotion with which it was animated, filled

their eyes with tears, and their hearts with a respect for his piety, beyond what they ever felt before.

"The power of these senti ments so far exceeded that of his sufferings, that, in the midst of the most violent pains, no complaint fell from his lips, only he requested his friends to pray for him. One of these having asked him whether he suffered much?" Most assuredly," replied the pious sufferer, "but these pains are supportable." "You have already endured many evils with firmness and resig nation," added his friend," you will still continue to suffer with Christian fortitude; that religion

ring your life, will support you in the hour of death." "Alas, my dear friend," replied Gellert "I am a weak man, a poor sinner; pray for me that I may not yield to temptation." Sincere as was this confession, as sincerely did he think himself certain of obtaining pardon, through the merits of the Redeemer.

"After having conversed and prayed for some time, he fell back on his bed, continued his meditations in silence, and thus prepared himself for the conversation of a worthy ecclesiastic in whom he had much confidence, and from whose hands he wished to receive the holy sacrament for the last time. On the entrance of this friend, the manner in which Gellert spoke to him of his death, shew-which has strengthened you dued that nothing disturbed the inward calm of his mind. He was very attentive to all the words uttered by the pious minister; but nothing affected him more, nor excited in his heart a more lively sentiment of joy, than the consideration of the infinite love of the Redeemer towards mankind; and this sentiment was accompanied with the most profound respect, and the sincerest humility. When amongst the passages of scripture suited to his situation, these words taken from the history of Lazarus were pronounced, "Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick;" penetrated with the sense of this passage, "Ah," exclaimed he, "might I be happy enough to be alowed to apply these words to myself!" His pastor and his friend mak-is what I moreover acknow ing him sensible that the Chris- ledge; it is in this hope that I tian, who seeks salvation only in live, and am going to die.' He the merits of his Saviour, may then set himself to exalting be certain he is the peculiar ob- aloud, and in the most affecting ject of his love, he immediately manner, the infinite mercy of applied this consoling promise God. to himself: "Yes, I hope it, O my Saviour, I hope that thou lovest me as one of thine own."

"On hearing of his danger, Mr. Heyer came to Leipsick see him; the moment Gellert perceived him, he said, "Thi is a truth and worthy to be recei ved of all men, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; this, my dear friend, this is my confession of faith on my death bed. But,' continued he with visible joy, mercy has been extended to me; yes, God extends his mercy to me; this

"These pious dispositions manifested themselves particu larly in the last communion: and