CHA-BAC TE RS.” ¢ 
to Zurich, and fired every breast 
‘fineness pf whose ear and taste he 
derived the greatest advantages. 
}With’ much diffidence he presented 
ito. Ramler some of his. composi- 
tions; but every verse and every 
word were criticised, and very few 
could pass through the fiery trial. 
The,Swiss dialect, he found at last, 
hwas' the. obstacle in his way, and 
the .exertions, requisite to satisfy 
the delicacy of a German.ear would 
be excessive.. Ramler advised him 
to clothe his thoughts in harmo- 
nious prose;. this counsel he fol- 
lowed, and the anecdote may be of 
elsein Britain, where many a would. 
be poet is probably hammering at 
a -verse;.which, from the. circum- 
-stanges:of his birth and education, 
he,can never make agreeable to the 
ean of taste. 
From, Berlin, Gessner went to 
Hambeurgh, with letters of recom- 
--mendatien to Hagedorn; but he 
chose to make himself acquafnted 
with, him.at-a coffee-house before 
.thée letters were delivered. A close 
»inumacy. followed, and he had the 
advantages of a literary society 
which Hamburgh at that time af- 
forded. Thence he returned home, 
~withchis taste much refined; and, 
fortunately for him he came back 
when his countrymen were in some 
degree capable of enjoying his -fu- 
(ture works... Had he produced 
-them twenty years before, his 
Daphnis would have been hissed at 
as immoral ; his Abe! would have 
been preached against as propha- 
- mation. 
This period may be called the 
Augustan age ot Germany ; Klop- 
stock, Ramler, Kleist, Gleim, Utz, 
Lessing, Wieland, Rabener, were 
rescuing their country from the sar- 
casms of the great Frederic. Klop- 
stock, paid about this time a visit 
[339 
with poetical ardour. He -had. 
scarce left the place when Wieland 
came, and by both our poet was 
well received. After a few ano- 
nymous compositions, he tried’ his 
genius on a subjeét which was 
started by the accidental perusal 
of the translations of Longus; and 
his Daphnis was improved by the 
remarks of his friend Hirzel, the 
author of the. Rustic Socrates: 
Daphnis appeared first without a 
name in the year 1754; it was fol. 
lowed in 1756, by Inkle and Ya- 
rico ; and Gessner’s reputation was 
spread in the same year, over Ger. 
many and Switzerland, by his Pas. 
torals, a translation of which into 
English, in 1762, was published 
by Dr. Kenrick. His brother poets 
acknowledged the merit of these 
light compositions, as they. were 
pleased to call them; but conceived 
their author to be incapable of form- 
ing a grander plan, or aiming.at the 
dignity of heroic poetry. To these 
critics he soon after opposed his 
Death of Abel. 
In 1762, he collected his poems 
in four volumes; in which wete 
some new pieces that had never be. 
fore made their appearance in pub- 
lic. In 1772, he produced his se. 
cond volyme of pastorals, with some 
letterson landscape painting. These 
met with the most favourable re- 
ception in France, where they were 
translated and imitated ; as. they- 
were also, though with less success 
in Italy and England. 
We shall now consider. Gessner 
as an artist : till his thirtieth year, 
painting was only ,an accidental 
amusement; but at that time ‘he © 
became acquainted with Heideg. 
ger, a man of taste, whose -col- 
lection of paintings. and engrave 
Z2 ings 
