34 Milton D. Baumgartner 



achtung, sovvohl als die gepriesenen franzosischen Dichter." Still 

 more emphatic, and seemingly prophetic of the future course of 

 the German stage, is the next utterance : " Das ist gewisz, wollte 

 der Deutsche in der dramatischen Poesie seinem eigenen Natur- 

 elle folgen, so wiirde unsre Schaubiihne mehr der englischen als 

 franzosischen gleichen." 



Lessing's utterances in the introduction of the Beytrdge could 

 hardly have escaped the notice of Gottsched, as he had but re- 

 cently suffered defeat at the hands of the Swiss School of poets, 

 when in 1748 the first cantos of Klopstock's Messias appeared. 

 Translations of English plays were beginning to spring up here 

 and there, and Gottsched's followers were daily deserting him. 

 These translations were made a part of the repertoire of the 

 German theatrical troops. At Leipzig, for instance, where Gott- 

 sched had enjoyed the dictatorship of the stage, Koch and his 

 troop of players in 1752 successfully performed Weisse's trans- 

 lation of The Devil to Pay by Cofifey. Gottsched harshly attacked 

 not only this opera, but all English plays, and translators and per- 

 formers of the translations, maintaining that they defiled the taste 

 (Geschmack) of the German theater. ^"^ This harsh criticism gave 

 rise to a scandal in which many " Streitschriften " passed between 

 Gottsched and his followers and their opponents. ^'^ Lessing fol- 

 lowed this controversy with interest, as is evident from the re- 

 view in the Berlinischcn privilegierten Zcitnng}- While assum- 

 ing to take a non-partisan role, he defends Den Teiifel ist Los in 

 its essentials, and reiterates his claim made in the Beytrdge by 

 saying : " dasz es vielleicht nicht allzu wohl gethan sei, wenn wir 

 unsre Biihne, die noch in der Bildung ist, auf das Einfache des 

 franzosichen Geschmacks einschranken wollen." He robs Gott- 

 sched of the argument, that the English plays violate the rules of 

 the drama, by simply granting that no English play is regular. 



In 1752 (Bocage's) Lettres stir le theatre Anglais,^^ containing 



10 Das Neiiste aus der anmuthigen Gclehrsamkcit, III, p. 128, I753- 



11 Gustav Waniek, Gottsched mid die deutsche Litteratur seiner Zeit, p. 

 619 ff., Leipzig, 1897. Cf. also J. Minor, Christian Felix Weisse uitd seine 

 Beziehung zur deutschcn Literatur, pp. 130-157. 



12 Dated July 21, 1753. Cf. Lessings Werke, IV, p. 17S, in D. N .L. 

 ^3 Two volumes, published in Paris. 



322 



