170 Nations lately become Literary. [Ch. XXVI. 



But beside the numerous and valuable im- 

 provements which the German language owes tCJ 

 the professed writers on the subject mentioned 

 in the preceding paragraphs, much may be 

 ascribed to the circulation and influence of those 

 specimens of good writing in that language, with 

 which the eighteenth century, and especially the 

 latter half of it, abounded. In this list, the first 

 in chronological order which deserve to be men- 

 tioned are the publications of Bo<:lmer, Breitin- 

 ger, Gellert, Rabener, Cramer, and a few others, 

 who furnished examples of regular and polished 

 style decidedly superior to any former models. 

 The period in which these men wrote is repre- 

 sented as the first grand epocha in the progress of 

 German prose. It was in this period that the 

 French classic writers began to be better known 

 in Germany, through the medium of translations, 

 by means of which the German style was enriched 

 with many new words, idioms, and graces. 



The second epocha in the German style is repre- 

 sented to be that which was formed by the au- 

 thors of the Berlinschen Litter aturhriejen, and 

 especially by Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn. 

 About this time the British classic writers began 

 to be studied with much ardour in Germany; 

 and many of them being translated, and consi- 

 dered as models by some of the most respectable 

 authors of that country, gave rise to new and im- 

 portant improvements in their style. The beau- 

 ties of Milton, Addison, Swift, and Pope, began 

 not only to be relished, but also to be copied by 

 the German literati ; and were soon afterwards, \\\ 

 a considerable degree, transfused into their own 



