^3i G E S 
fione de i/fips ^Etati & Ari&ore, ]ena., 1714, 8vo. 2. lnfi~ 
tutiones Rd Schotajika, \b\CL. 1715, Svo. 3. Commenlatio de 
Annh Ludifque fcecn!arihv% vtterum Rorvanorum, ibid. 1717, 
4to. 4. Chrejloinathia Ciceroniana, or, Seleit Pafurges 
troni the Works ol' Cicero, ibid. 1717, Svo. 5. Bqfiln 
tahn Thij'aunis Erudilionis fcholajlide recenfitus, finendalus & 
locnpktatus, Lipl. 1726, folio. 6. Chrejlomathia Pliniana, 
or SeleCf PaiTages iVoni Pliny’s Natural Hifiory, 1728, 
Syo. 7. Prima LinecE Artis oratorix^ Auipach, 1730, Svo. 
S. Difpvtatio de Pkilopatride, Dialogo Liicianeo, 1730, 
4''o. 9. Chrejlomathia Green, Jive Loci illujres ex optimis 
Scriptoribus de/ecli, ibid. 1731. lO. Scriptures Rei ruflica 
veteres Latini, Cato>, Varro, Columella, Palladius, Vegetius, & 
Gargilms Martialis, cum Editionibus prope omnibus & MSS. 
plurihus collati, adjcB.a Note Virorum clarij/imorum Integra, 
turn edita & Lexicon Rei rujlica, Lipf. 1735, 2 vols. large 
4to. with plates. 11. PLinii Secundi Panegyricus, Goet- 
ting. 1735, Svo. 12. Quintiliani de hjlitutione oratoria, 
Lnh. XII. ibid. 173S, 4to. 13. Plinii Cacilii Secundi 
Epijolarum LihriN. Ejujdem Panegyricus, cum. Annotationibus 
perpetuis, Lipf. 1739, 8vo. 14. Carminum Libri III. 
VralilL 1743, Svo. 15. J. G. Heinceii Pundamenta Stili 
cultioris, adjcBis Annotationibus, Gefneri, Lipf. 1743, Svo. 
16. Opufeuia varii Argumenti,YxaC\B. 1743, four parts, 
8vo. 17. Encheiridion, five Prudentia privata & civilis 
T. Pomponii Atlici, &c. in Ufum PraleElionum, Goett. 1745, 
121U0. 18. Thefaurus Latina Lingua ct Erudilionis Romana, 
Lipl. 1747-8, 4 vols. folio. 19. Index etymologicus Lali~ 
nitatis, L 3 c. Lipf. 1749, Sv^o. 20. Prime tinea Ifagoges in 
Eruditioneni univcrfalem, Lipf. 1757, Svo. tom. ii. ibid. 
1774-5, Svo. 21. Claudiani Opera, Varietate LcElionis et 
perpetua Annetatione iUuJrata, Lipf. 1759, 8vo. 22. An. 
geli Maria Card. Quirini et Gefneri Epifiola mutua, Norimb. 
1760, Svo. 23. Ckrejomathia Tragica, tres integras Tra- 
geedias continens ; AJchyli Prometheum, Sophoclis Ajacem, Eu. 
ripedis Phanijfac, Goetling. 1762, Svo. 24. Orpbei Argo, 
nautica, llymni, Libellus de Lapidibus et Fragmenta, &c. cu- 
rante G. C. Hambergero, Lipf. 1764, Svo. The celebrity 
w hich Gefner had acquired, in confequence of the many 
Valuable works which he publifhed, was ftill farther 
increafed by this pollhumous edition of Orpheus, as he 
has rendered intelligible, by Ihort and comprehenfive 
notes, a work otherwife difficult and obfeure. 25. T/ie- 
Jaurus Epifiolicus Gefnerianus, edidit C. A. Klotz, Halae, 
176S, Svo. 
GJES'NER (Solomon), a German Lutheran divine in 
tile lixteenth century, born at Bolellaw in Silefia, in 
1559. After having made fome progrefs in the Ifudy 
of rhetoric and the mathematics, he removed to Straf- 
burgh, where he obtained an academic exhibition, 
w hich he diligently employed in the Ifudy of philofo- 
phy, the mathematics, rhetoric, theology, and the He¬ 
brew, Chaldee, and Syriac, languages. In 1592 he re¬ 
ceived an invitation to fill the theological chair in the 
iiniverlity of Wittemberg. By the clofenefs of his ap¬ 
plication to his various engagements, he brought on a 
complication of diforders, to which he fell a facrifice 
in 1605, in the forty-fixth year of his age. He pub- 
lilhed, I. The Prophecy'of Hofea, with the Latin Ver¬ 
sion of St. Jerome, fiom the Hebrew, and that of B. A. 
Montanus from the Chaldee Paraphrafe of Jonathan, 
illullrated by the Commentary of St. Jerome, and ad¬ 
ditional Notes. 2. A General Difquifition on the 
Pfalter, treating of tlie dignity, the ufe, the argument, 
aiid the connection, of the Plalms. 3. Polemical Dil- 
fertations on the Book of Genefis. 4. The Orthodox 
Dotlfrine concerning the Perfon and Office of Jelus 
Chrill. 5. A ColleClion of Sermons on the Sufferings 
of Chrift. 6. De Conciliis, Lib. IV. of which the two 
■fiilt contain general remarks, and an hiltorical view of 
all the councils, and the two lalt a refutation of the two 
books of Bellarmine on the fame fubjedf j acadeniis 
diiputations, controverfial treatifes,-&c. 
GLSS'NER (Solomon), an eminent pallorai poet, 
G E S 
and landfcape painter, born in 1730, at Zttrich In Swiff 
ferland. His father, wlio was a bookfcller and printer, 
brought him up to his own btifinefs, but did not negleCl 
giving him a liberal education. At the age of twenty- 
two he made a tour through Germany, for tlie purpofe 
both of his own improvement, and of extending the 
connections of his father’s bufinefs, in whicli he was now 
admitted as a partner. The acquaintance of many of 
the German literati, to whom he obtained an introdtic-- 
tion during the courfe of this journey, flimulated the 
paffion he had already imbibed for letters; and foon 
after his rettini, in 2753, he publiffied.a ihort poem, en, 
titled Night. This was followed by his pallorai ro¬ 
mance of Daphnis, in three cantos. They were botli 
favourably received, and were judged to difplay great 
talciits tor rich defeription and tender fentiment, though 
marked with the-exuberances and irregularities of ju¬ 
venile fancy. Some of the fictions in thefe pieces fhewed 
him to be an inutator of the manner of Ovid; but his 
maturer talte led him to a Itrain of fimplicity, and a 
natural ftyle of painting, which are his chief charadter- 
iltics. This character is peculiarly exemplified in liis 
next and favourite work, his Idyls, formed, as he af¬ 
firms, upon the model of Theocritus, but infinitely ftir- 
paiiing that poet in delicacy and true tendernefs, and in 
the pure morality they inculcate. The Idyls were 
greatly admired in all the countries where their lan¬ 
guage was native, and brought a large addition to the 
author’s reputation. This was' carried to its height by 
his next performance. The Death of Abel, which ap¬ 
peared in 1758. In this piece the dignity of a religious 
epic, like the Paradife Loft, is attempted to be united 
with the fimplicity and fuavity of pallorai. Its fuccefs 
was highly flattering; befides the repeated editions it 
underwent at Zurich in the original, it was tranllated 
into moll European languages. 
Gcii'ner afterwards publifhed fome minor poems, of. 
which The Firll Navigator is one of the molt admired. 
He all'o effayed his powers in the paltoral drama, but 
v/ith no extraordinary fuccels. Almoft all his poetical 
eftulions were the pVodudt of his youth, and written 
before he had completed his thirtieth year. About 
that period he married the daughter of Mr. Heidegger, 
a gentleman w’ho poffeffed a valuable colledtion of paint¬ 
ings of the Flemilh Ichool ; and this circumllance gave 
a new turn to his purfuits. He had at an early age 
learned to draw, and had acquired fome attachment to 
the arts of defign. This was now revived, and he be¬ 
gan fuddenly to attempt imitating what he admired. 
In a Letter on Landfcape Painting, he has given an in- 
IlruCtive account of the fteps by which he was led to a 
proficiency in that art. For fome time he only ven¬ 
tured upon decorations of books printed at his office ; 
but at length he attained more confidence, and in 1765 
publifhed ten landfcapes, etched and engraved, as well 
as defigned, by himfelf. Twelve others appeared' in 
1769, and he continued to execute ornaments for the 
works which iffued from his prefs. Thefe efforts railed, 
his fame as an artifi: almoft to a parity w 1th that he had 
gained as a writer; and he has defervedly obtained a 
diftinguilhed place among the votaries of the fine arts 
in Swilferland. Flence his paintings in water-colours, 
and his feveral drawings, are eagerly fought by con-, 
noiffeurs. He died by a Itroke of apoplexy, in 1783, in 
the filcy-eighth year of his age. 
The private character of Geffner was in a high degree 
amiable and exemplary. As a hufband, a father, and a 
friend, his virtues were equally confpicuous. Flis caff 
of mind was penfive, and even melancholy; his man¬ 
ners gentle. In converfation he was mild and affable, 
and, where the fubjedi; admitted of it, often highly ani¬ 
mated, rifing into great elevation of fentiment, and 
beauty of expreflion. But in every part of his deport¬ 
ment, there was that unaffected fmcerity, that fimpli- 
city 
