i805.] 



Memcirs of Gotthold Ephratm Lefftng. 



4.1 



home, Von Hompefch fhabbily withdrew 

 the hundred Louis granted to him as aca. 

 dtmician. 



In 177S an interference of the confifto- 

 ry occalioned the celuaan of the Contri- 

 biitiois. The anger of the theologians 

 was become loud, the cor.rraverfial writ- 

 ings nuinnous, and Leniog was lempied 

 by lome of them, efpeciilly by the vexa- 

 tious attacks of a paftor Goge, to piint 

 foiTic de£cnrive obfervations. Semler had 

 execute i a it) re temperate and a more ar- 

 gumentative criticifin. The unpubli{htd 

 porti -n of the manufcript w;is compulfo- 

 rjly delivered up to the magilirate: fome 

 leaves at the end were deficient : Lcfling 

 ftat^d ihem to be in the poffeflionof Prince 

 Leopold, who had defired to read the 

 whole. Leding closed the controverfy l>y 

 the publicatijn of Nathan the Wife. It 

 is his dramatic mafter-piece, written, per- 

 haps, rather for the ciofet than thethcatie; 

 but it has for yeirs been affed with fuc- 

 cefs, as curtailed by Schiller. Among 

 Lefling's papers was found the Iketch of 

 a preface which he diJ not prefix. It ex- 

 plains many Arabic words and curtoms 

 alluded to in the piece. It afcrihes to the 

 third novel in Boccaccio's Decameron the 

 firft hint of ihe plan. It adds "Nai ban's 

 declaration againft all pofitive religion, 

 exprefTes whst has always been my lenti- 

 ment : but this is not the place to jultify 

 it." It concludes with defending the 

 mora] ttn'lency of the play. Nathan 

 the Wife was well received at firft by the 

 thinking world, and has maintained its 

 claflTic rank with growing confequence. 



In 1780 Prince Leopold became, by the 

 death ot his fa'her, the Reigning Sove- 

 reign. The Chancellor, Von Piaun, was 

 diCplaced, and the perfecuted Lcfuns;, 

 lately the an;i Chriftian monlter, the im- 

 pious atheilf, when it was perceived 

 that he influenced the advancement 

 of the clergy, was white-wafhtd into a 

 teacher of forbearance, a patron of equi- 

 ty, and an apoiHe of liberality. 



Ltfllrig's health fehlom permitted him 

 to enjoy the fmiftiine which the favour of 

 the Prince was radiating both on his cir- 

 cumftances and h's popularity. He com- 

 pofed the Monk of Libanon, a fccond part 

 «rf' Nathan ths: Wife, but the pifture of 



(he fick Salad in was but too faithful a de- 

 lineaiion of perfonal feeling. 



.\ Dilfertation on the Education of the 

 Human Rrtce, in which the inliitution of 

 pofitive religion is contemplated rs m en- 

 gine ot dilcijjline to be laid aficlc in the 

 manhood of lociety, was given to the 

 public, and read without anger. 



So little miltrult hnd Lelfing in the ra- 

 pidity of his induftry, that he made an 

 agreement with the direftors of the Ham- 

 burg theatre in Augul*, 1780, to finilh 

 two new plays annuall), at fi'ty Lo)iis 

 each : but he fuffered the times appointed 

 to roll by with )Ut attention. 



Among the contiguous intimates of 

 Lefling's age were obferved Ids college- 

 friend Zach^ria ; the confiltcrial ctuiiifellor 

 Schmidt, who was lulpefted by fome of 

 affilHng to provide the Fragments, and to 

 wiiom Leiiing was greatly attached; 

 Enert, his on;4inal patron ; the yo'jng Je- 

 lul'alcm, whijfc early death was a loiis to 

 philolbphy ; Efchcnbuig, the tranflator 

 of Shakeipe;iie i General Wai nfte.it, the 

 preceptor of the Prince, and the compa- 

 nion of their Italian excuifion; and Leifc- 

 witz, the author of Julius of Tarento. 

 Lefling's habit was to vi/ork " at Wolf- 

 enbuiiel, and to pafs Irequently two or 

 three weeks at Braunfchweig in recre- 

 ation. 



He became latterly very lethargic. In 

 1 78 1 he went to Hamburg, but arrived 

 fo ill that his friend Leilewitz feiit for 

 phyficians. To his ccmatofe lymptoms 

 was fuperadded a decay of voice. After 

 an illnels of tJvelvc days he died on the 

 iftii of February. Bruckmann and Som.> 

 mer weie his medical attendants; the 

 latter opened the bjuy, and publilhed an 

 account of the diffitjlion : there were eight 

 ribs on each fide, and every where ten. 

 dencles to oflification : there was water in 

 the cheft : there was inflammaition in the 

 left lobe of the lungs, but no adhefron : 

 there was polypus in the right ventricle of 

 the heart. He leaves no defendants, 

 fays Meiidclfohn in a letter which narrates 

 his deceali;, but a more furely enduring 

 memorial : he wrote Nathan the Wife, and 

 died. 



{A critical furnjiy of the 'writings of 

 Leifing iviU progrejfivelj foll(yw.) 



PRO- 



