106 



BURGER. 



Burger, ciples of grammar and composition, His studies, in 

 """""V""'-' the mean time, proceeded but slowly ; and the diffi- 

 culty with which he was made to acquire a know- 

 ledge of the rules of Latin grammar appears extra- 

 ordinary in a youth certainly of no mean talents. 

 His father, a plain, sensible man, of some learning 

 and great indolence, having in vain attempted to 

 make his son comprehend the elements of that lan- 

 guage, at length resolved to send him, in his 12th 

 year, to his grandfather at Aschersleben, in order 

 that he might have the advantage of attending the 

 grammar school in that town. Here young Burger 

 made some progress in Latin ; but having, unfortu- 

 nately, incurred the displeasure of the rector, in con- 

 sequence of some satirical verses which he had com- 

 posed in ridicule of one of his fellow pupils, his grand- 

 father found it necessary to remove him to the pccda- 

 gogium at Halle, in the year 1762. In 1764, he en- 

 tered into the university of Halle, and became, at 

 his grandfather's desire, although contrary to his 

 own inclination, a student ef divinity. He is even 

 said to have preached once in a country church in 

 the neighbourhood of Halle. Theological studies, 

 however, were not congenial with the lively disposi- 

 tion of Burger ; and his grandfather having got in- 

 formation, that the young man did not conduct him- 

 self in a manner suitable to his future vocation, re- 

 called him from Halle. But Burger, it would seem, 

 contrived to appease the anger of his offended rela-* 

 tive ; for he obtained his permission, not only to re- 

 pair to Gottingen, at Easter 1768, but to change 

 his studies from theology to jurisprudence. At Got- 

 tingen, accordingly, he applied himself, for some 

 time, with assiduity to his new course of study, and 

 made considerable progress in acquiring a knowledge 

 of the principles of the civil law ; but the influence 

 of his former dissipated habits became again appa- 

 rent j and his grandfather having been informed of 

 his manner of living, gradually withdrew from him 

 his countenance and support, and appears to have re- 

 garded him as a depraved youth, whose case was en- 

 tirely hopeless. 



Meanwhile, however, Burger became associated 

 with several men of genius at Gottingen, by whose 

 generous assistance he was enabled to continue his 

 studies, which were now principally directed to an- 

 cient and modern literature, and especially to poetry. 

 During this period, he composed several of his songs 

 ai>d smaller pieces. In the year 1770, he contribu- 

 ted, along with his friends, 'Cotter and Boie, to the 

 contents of the first poetical almanack which appear- 

 TC! in Germany ; a species of publication, the idea of 

 which was borrowed from the French. About this 

 time, too, he composed his Ode to Hope, and his 

 translation of the Perrigilium Veneris, an underta- 

 king which he appears to have long meditated, and 

 upon the execution of which he seems to have dwelt 

 with feelings of peculiar gratification. 



Being now well known and esteemed as a poet in 

 Gottingen, Burger had an opportunity of cultivating 

 his genius in the society of a number of young men 

 of distinguished merit, then residing at the same uni 

 versity. several of whom afterwards mace ;i conspi- 

 cuous figure on the literary theatre of Gtvinany.. 



Among these may be mentioned the poets, Voss, Burger; 

 Holty, and the two Counts Stolberg. To these " ' v - 

 friends he communicated most of his pieces before 

 their publication, and was, no doubt, indebted to 

 them for many useful hints and emendations. In the 

 year 1772, he obtained, through the interest of his 

 friends, the situation of an officer of justice (amhnann) 

 in the territory of Alten-Gleichen, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gottingen. In 1774-, he married his first 

 wife, a daughter of the Hanoverian law officer, Leon- 

 hart, at Niedeck. The place which had been pro- 

 cured for him, however, was neither of sufficient 

 emolument, nor sufficiently congenial with the dispo- 

 sition and habits of the poet, to afford him much or 

 permanent gratification ; he therefore resigned it in 

 1784 in disgust, and in the following year returned 

 to Gottingen. 



During the period of his residence in the country, 

 he composed his famous ballad of Leonora, and trans- 

 lated several of the books of Homer's Iliad into Iam- 

 bic blank verse, which were published in the German 

 Museum. Neither this translation, however, nor one 

 which he afterwards attempted in hexameter verse, 

 was ever completed ; nor is it much to be regretted, 

 that he should have relinquished a task, which was 

 afterwards so well performed by Count Frederick 

 Stolberg, and by Voss. In 1778, he undertook 

 the sole superintendance of the Gottingen poetical 

 almanack ; the former editor, Goekingk, having as- 

 sociated himself with Voss, in the management of a 

 similar publication at Hamburgh. In the same year, 

 he also published the first collection of his poems, 

 which contained several new pieces, in addition to 

 those which had already appeared in different pe- 

 riodical works. 



On his return to Gottingen, in 1784-, our author, 

 whose pecuniary circumstances were far from being 

 in a prosperous state, determined to devote himself 

 entirely to his favourite literary pursuits, and to en- 

 deavour to qualify himself for the situation of a pro- 

 fessor in the university. With this object in view, 

 he began to read lectures on philosophy and the belles 

 lellrcs, and to give private instruction to individual 

 students. In the following year ( 1785), he married 

 the youngest sister of his former wife, who had been 

 carried off by consumption about twelve months be- 

 fore ; a step which exposed him to much censure on 

 the score of morality, but which appears to have 

 been to himself a source of great comfort and happi- 

 ness. But his happiness was of short duration ; for 

 his beloved partner, in whom his whole affections 

 seem to huve been centred, died of a hectic fever a 

 few months after the celebration of the marriage. 

 The blow fell heavily upon Burger ; and, indeed, 

 from this period, his life exhibits little else than a 

 record of uninterrupted bodily and mental distress. 

 The animal spirits, which had hitherto supported 

 him through poverty, and privations of different kinds-, 

 seem now to have almost entirely forsaken him ; and 

 the stream of life, which had previously flowed along 

 with a brisk, if not an equable current, now became 

 dull and flaggy, and mingk-d with the muddy waters 

 of melancholy and affliction. For some time, he de- 

 voted himself to the study of the works of the phi- 



