Sect. 11.] Germany, 171 



tongue. From this period we are told that Ger- 

 man prose became more concise, copious, and 

 energetic, as well as more lofty and bold in its port. 

 The third and last epocha in the progress of 

 German style is that formed by the writings of a 

 number of eminent men since the improvements 

 of Lessing and his contemporaries. Among 

 these, Klopstock, Zimmermann, Wieland, Unzer, 

 Herder*, Garve, Engel, Lavater, and a number 

 of others, hold a high place. These writers en- 

 riched the language in which they wrote with new 

 w^ords and phrases ; taught new and improved 

 modes of constructing periods ; introduced orna- 

 ments of speech more simple, natural, and ele- 

 gant, than those which had been commonly in 

 use before ; and infused a sprightliness and vi- 

 gour into their pages which scarcely any pre- 

 ceding writers had attained. The German con- 

 stitution has confined eloquence almost entirely 

 to the pulpit. We must therefore look to the 

 sermons of that country for some of the best spe- 

 cimei^s of style. Mosheim was the first who in- 

 troduced any kind of refinement and elegance of 

 composition into the sacred desk. He was fol- 

 lowed by Spaldingj who is said to have- been the 

 first pulpit orator in Germany, who, in a supe- 

 rior degree, united simplicity with elegance, ener- 

 gy, and pathos. Zollikofer stands in the same 

 high rank, with the addition of a philosophical 

 cast to the elegant and popular form of his dis- 



* Of all the German writers it is generally supposed that 

 Klopstock, Lessing, Wielaud, and Herder, discover the most pro- 

 C^und and intimate acquaintance with tlieir native langviagc 



