A414 
learned man, he added confiderably to 
his ftock of philofophic knowledge, hav- 
ing the advantage of private leifons, as 
well as the general tuition of the {chocl. 
In thofe private conferences, they read 
through Don Quixote together. 
On his returh to his father’s houfe, he 
found there Mademoifelle Sophia Gutter- 
gan*, an amiable young lady, who be- 
came the object of his firft affections, and 
contributed more, perhaps, than any 
other perfon to unfold and direét his 
tafte and talents. Particular circum- 
fiances, however, prevented their union, 
and Mr. WiELAND, full of a love the 
mott ardent, yet the moft platonic, at the 
age of feventeen, repaired to Tubingen, 
to enter on a courfe of jurifprudence. 
‘There overpowered, as it were, by his 
lively imagination, and the  confcious 
‘fenfe of his fuperior talents, he fecluded 
himfelf from company, and in the fpace 
of about a year and a half, publithed the 
firft poems which he ever compofed. Thus 
in the fame year, 1752, four pieces of his 
Were printed, 1ft, The Anti-Ovid, or 
the Art of Love; 2d, Moral Letters, in 
verfe; 3d, Tales; and 4th, The Nature 
of Things. The three former of thefe 
were printed at Heilbronn, and the 
fourth at Hall. 
This laft peem. compofed by him in 
about three months’ time, exhibits a pic- 
ture of the philofophy of Plato and Leib- 
witz, finifhed in the moft brilliant ftyle of 
colouring. Its fuccefs was very confider- 
able, and it had, particularly, a very ex- 
tenfive fale in Switzerland. It alfo pro- 
cured for the author, the friendihip of 
Mefirs. Bretienger and de Blaueren, to 
whom he was under material obligations 
in the fequel. 
Fie had fent to the celebrated Bodmer, 
the five firft. cantos of a poem of his, in 
hexameter verfe, entitled, Arminius, 
without revealing his own name. For 
fome time, Bodmer and Hagedorn were at 
a lofs in conSidering the different authors 
of reputation to whoin they thould afcribe 
it; when Mr, WiELAND, difcovering 
its real.2uthor, proved it to be the work 
of a young man fcarcely nineteen years 
of age. 

* Mademotfelle Guttermen married, after- 
wards, Mé. de le Reche, minifter at a German 
court, and, under this name, has publithed feve- 
ral pteces, in German and French, which have 
procured her ‘a diftmguifhed reputation. The 
idemors of Iademotfelle de Sternheim, and the 
Caprices of Love and Friendfhif, axe among the 
effufions of her pene 
Life and Writings of Wieland. 
[ June, 
Here originated the friendfhip between 
Mefirs. Wieland and Bodmer, which was 
maintained during fo long a time after- 
wards. Bodmer prevailed upon our 
young poet to repair to Zurich, and Mr. 
WIELAND, with no lefs eager curiofity, 
went to fhare the apartment of the 
patriarch of German poets. The Trial 
of Abrahom (Der-Geprufie Abrabam, in 
1753) was the firft fruit of the affem- 
blage of their combined talents. The 
Letiers of the Dead (Briefe-der-Veftorbe- 
nen, in 1753) fucceeded to this; a work” 
in the manner of our Rowe, although 
abounding more with philofophy, and 
flights of imagination. Mr. WIELAND 
publifhed aifo in the fame year, three 
volumes of the collection of Te Polemi- 
cal Writings of Zurich, for the Improve- 
ment of Tafte (Sammlung-der Zurcherifchen 
Strett{chritten, &C. im 1753). : 
In the following year, he wrote A 
Treatife on the Beauties of ihe Noachis, an 
epic poem of Bodmer (Abhandlung vox 
den Schoenbetten des Epifchen Gedichts dém 
Noah, in 1754); and alfo publithed, in 
concert with Bodmer, a number of dif- 
ferent pieces of fugitive poetry, in the 
manner of tales. 
In 1755, appeared his announcement 
of a German Dunciad (Ankundigung einer 
Dunciade fur-die Teutfchen). In 1758, he 
printed, 1. Remarks on Milion. 2. Thoughts 
on renewing the patriouc Dream of the~ 
Confederation. 3. Remembrancers to a 
Lady. 4. The Sympatbies. 5. Lady Fane 
Gray. And, 6, he began the Colleétion 
of his Works in profe. In thefe differ- 
ent pieces we have a difplay of Pe- * 
trarch’s fenfibility, combined with the 
profoundnefs of Shaftfbury’s philofophy. 
A year afterwards, he publifhed Ara/- 
pes and Panthea, a moral hiftory ;—Cve- 
mentina de Poretta, a tragedy ;—and his 
Postical Writings were. colleéted for the 
firft time in 1762. In this colleétion, I 
muft not omit to mention Cyrus, a he- 
roic poem, in:fublime verfe, in which 
the poet {peaks the language of Xeno- 
phon and Plato. 
WIELAND lived in Switzerland till 
towards the middie of the year 1759. 
The laft of thefe years he paffed at. 
Bernt, where he met with the fame fa- 
vourable reception as at Zurich. His 
feven years’ refidence in Switzerland, and 
the conneftions he had formed there, 
proved highly advantageous to him in 
the fequel. 
In. 1760, he was recalled into his 
country, to take his feat in the fenate; 
and foon after was eleéted Greffer, and 
. Dire&tor 
