280 Eminent Foreign L 
ing, aud woud break all connexion in my 
head. Criticifm you are * 
— and to read critically is 
ar beyond my prefent power. Can a 
fcrivener ora fcrivener’s hearer, be a judge 
of compofition, ftyle,_ profound reafoning, 
and new lights, and dif-overies, &c.? But 
my. weary “hand and breaft mut finifh. 
May Lafk the favour of your calling eo 
wet oe 
wes 
Litealss new Living. 
me any morning when you fhall happeri 
to come to town 3 ; you will firid the riew 
‘old lord exaétly the fame admirer of your's, 
and your ‘obedient humble: fervant, 
Hor. WALPOLE. 
[It was a confiderable time before. he 
would fign Orford,’ or could eyen hear his 
ftyle or title without hefitation. | 

ORIGINAL ANECDOTES AND REMAINS, 
OF 
EMINENT. 
Some AccouNT of the. Lives. and 
WRITINGS of EMINENT FOREIGN 
LITER ATI, mow lving. 
[ To be continued regularly. | 
KLOPSTOCK. 
YN noticing living German author S, 
this poet. juftly ‘claims the pre-erni- 
“‘nence; his Meffiab being contidered, 
by unanimous fuffrage, the beft epic 
tod which Germany ever’ produced. 
e 1s a native of Saxony, and received his 
education in the Pforte, a celebrated col- 
lege near Naumbure: in which Gre- 
VIUs, ERNESTI, BacuHrvus, and feveral 
other eminent literati were formed. It is 
a circumftance not lefs anthentic than 
worthy of remark, that this ‘great man 
actually arranged the plan of his Mefliah 
during his fchool-years. He profecuted 
his defign with indefatigable zeal, and 
with a fuccels commenfurate to the care 
and abilities he exerted in the completion 
of his work. Notwithftanding the metre 
he adopted (preferring the majeltic,’ the 
fonorous and expreffive hexameters of 
Homer, to the puerility of modern 
Fhyme) was entirely new, and in a 
manner exotic to German verfification ; 
his Meffiah no fooner made its appear- 
ance, than it’ met with general applaufe, 
and, in a fhort time, raifed his reputation 
toa height, which left all-competitors at 
a hopelefs ‘diftance ; and, as before re- 
marked, ranked him the firlt epic poet of 
‘his Hatten: 
“° His: “Odes + have procured him the 

* An overftrained compliment is omitted 
‘po A fplendid edition of “* Kropstock’s 
Oder accompanied - with ample notes and 
Hie Prado éi isinow’ publifhing bythe tearned 
‘andingeniousA uGUST u's BorrTiceEr, DvD.: 
‘proven of Weimar college, and gounrtellrcer 
the Upper: Coafiftery. . Ofthe merits of this 
gentigman, In thejrepublic of-letters, °we 
thal have: secalipn.cto {peak Sead tad 
PERSONS. 
fame avowed fuperiority as a lyric writer. 
They difplay a glow of imagination, a2 
jufinefs of conception, a.brilliancy of 
diction, unfettered by xhyme,; which 
may difpute the palm of pre-eminence 
with the bards of Greece and Rome. 
But great and unrivalled as is their poetic 
excellence, they poffefs merit of a far 
fuperior. kind. They boaft the proud 
recommendation of moral beauty, in the 
molt exteniive and uncircum{cribed ac- 
ceptation of the term. Many of them 
were compofed with the exprefs defign of 
inf{piring his countrymen with a pirit of 
true pairiotifm, in contradiftin@ion to the 
narrow, felffo.views of moderna politics. 
He endeavours to aroufe their. moral ener- 
gies, to render them fenfible of what 
they have been, and what with virtuous 
exertion they may become. He difplays 
before their eyes, as an incentive to landa- 
ble ambition, their natural prerogatives, 
and fhows at once the glory they will ac- 
quire by making regular advances in 
moral excellence, and the ignominy they 
will incur by flothful inaétion and da- 
ftardly retreat. His popular. drama, 
entitled “* The Battle of Hermann,” affords 
an inconteftible proof how fuccelsfully he 
has {tudied the {pirit and national .cha- 
racter of the ancient Germans, during the 
reign of the Roman emperors. 
KLopstock has likewife a jut claim. 
upon the gratitude of his country, for hav- 
ing firft fuggetted, and by his own example 
enforced, the neceflity of an, improved 
fyftem in the orthography of the German 
language. His propofals were not, in- 
deed, adopted in their full extent, but 
they Ted others to direét their attention to 
this obje&t, and are, therefore, jultly 
entitled to the merit of having. proved 
highly infrumental in effecting the 
. change which has fince taken place. _ 
Notwithitanding his great age, he con- 
tinues in the. full, BMIALE TEBE enjoy- 
f ! NBO 3} <7 ment 
