Dry den's Relation to Germany 39 



direction of the too simple, and that Gottsched should have ob- 

 served, " dass die zu grosse Einfalt iins mehr ermitde, als die zu 

 grosse Verwicklung." Then he concludes his general arguments 

 in favor of the English theater, which are identical with those of 

 Dryden in the Essay ^ with the remark: " Er (Gottsched) hatte 

 also auf dieser Spur bleiben sollen, und sie wiirde ihn geraden 

 Wages auf das englische Theater gefiihret haben." 



The same English dramatists are also grouped together by Dry- 

 den and Lessing. The request of Eugenius that Neander, the 

 spokesman for Dryden, give a character sketch of Jonson and tell 

 his opinion frankly whether all writers, both French and English, 

 should give place to him, was granted ; but in granting the request 

 Neander reserved the right of also characterizing Jonson's rivals 

 in poetry, Shakspere, Beaumont, and Fletcher. These four Eng- 

 lish dramatists are given the first rank by Neander, and are the 

 only ones he dwells upon at length in the Essay. 



Singularly Lessing enumerates just these four, when he accused 

 Gottsched of giving the first rank to Addison's Cato. " Denn 

 eben dieses, dass er den Addisonschen Cato fiir das beste eng- 

 lische Trauerspiel halt, zeiget deutlich, dasz er hier nur mit den 

 Augen der Franzosen gesehen und damals keinen Shakspere, 

 keinen Jonson, und keinen Beaumont und Fletcher u. s. w. ge- 

 kannt hat .... "^^ On the surface this may simply be ascribed 

 to commonly accepted knowledge, but Lessing's criticism is usu- 

 ally based on careful investigation of the source, or upon the con- 

 clusions of a recognized authority. At best his first-hand knowl- 

 edge of English dramatists at this time was still rather limited. 

 Then it is not to be forgotten that before he and Voltaire were 

 estranged, he commended Shakspere, Dryden, Wicherly, Van- 

 brugh, Gibber, and Congreve after reading the Lettres, which dis- 

 cussed these same dramatists ; and now after translating the 

 Essay, he commends Shakspere, Jonson, Beaumont, and Fletcher. 



Four times he groups them thus : twice in the explanatory links 

 in the translation of the Essay; once in the " Geschichte der 



13 Immediately following the characterization of Dryden, Voltaire in his 

 Lettres places Addison and his Cato above Shakspere and all other Eng- 

 lish dramatists. 



327 



