gold in Spain, and pitcoal in Germany. 
From ali this every one juftly concludes, 
that this great merchani’s affairs are in a 
ftate of the higheft profperity. Several 
years ago a report was current in Weimar, 
that Myr. Bertuch mtended to fettle in 
Witrzburg ; the Prince-bifhop having pro- 
mifed him fome confiderable and very ad- 
vantageous privileges: but thefe promifes 
were rendered abortive by the unexpected 
oppofiticn of the Chapter of Wurzburg. 
Bertuch acquired his firft thoufand dol- 
lars by his Tranflation of DonQuixotte, then 
generally read throughout Germany, and 
. Iikewile the reputation of being perfeétly 
miafter of the Spanith Janguage, of which, 
however, he pofleffed-only a fuperficial 
knowledge. He afterwards publifhed a 
Spanifh Magazine, in three volumes, the 
Fables of Yuarte, 8c, but foon difcovered 
that that was not the road by which one 
foon arrives at the Temple of Weaith. 
He therefore obtained from the Duke of 
Weimar a privilege for a Landes -Iudujirie- 
Comtoir, which toon became ore of the 
firft eftablifhments of the kind im Germany, 
and now carries on fo extenive a trade in 
books, and efpecially in copper-plates, 
maps, and piéture-books on fubjeéts of 
natural hiftory, that Bertuch may be con- 
fidered worth at leaft a hundred thoufand 
rix-dollars. 
Bertuch’s wife is of as fpeculative a 
turri as her hufband: fhe eftablifhed at 
Weimar 2 manufaétory of artificial flowers, 
and mftru&ted the young maidens of that 
city in the art of making them. 
' Bertuch is likewife the founder, foul, 
and chief direftor of the Chalcographic 
Society, eftablifned under the patronage 
of the Prince of Deflau, who advanced the 
neceflary funds, which in the courle of 
four years has produced a confiderable 
number of the moft beautiful copper- 
plates. 
FALK. 
When 6n account of his Schubus (a fa- 
tirical farce againft the Pruffian Minifter 
W6lnér and other favourers of obfeuran- 
tiim) he was expelled from Halle, where 
he had dedicated fome years to the cultt- 
vation of his mind; he took refuge in 
Weimar, where ‘he has fince lived retired 
and to himfelf. On account of his fickly 
fiate of health, he follows a very ftrict 
dictical regimen; and in general fhews a 
wonderful degree of ftoiciim with refpeét - 
to moft of thofe things which are paffion-' 
ately fought after by other men. This. 
nts, glows with the moft ardent ‘enthu- 
fia fer the art, and finds the ideas of 
Account of the Literati of Weimar. 
youre poet, who is pofleffed of preat ta-' 
{March 1, 
perfeftion which he has formed to himfelf: 
realized only in the works of the Greeks. 
With fuch a turn of mind, he is not fel- 
dom in danger of bung fo far blinded by 
his paffion for the ancients as to become 
unjuft towards the modern produétions of 
genius. It happens to him in this refpect 
as to a lover, who, charmed with his own 
dear Dulcinea, confiders all other women 
as ugly, vile, and defpicable when com- 
pared with the objeét of his affeétion. 
His favourite, we might almoft fay his only, 
converfation is about the art of poetry, its 
rules, the proper manner of foveningiies 
felf according to the rules of the art, and 
on reafoning criticifm, which aft he like- 
wife diligently exercifes, with his pen in 
his hand, in the courle of his reading, As 
in his opinion no poet can lay claim to 
the laurel, who has not produced fome 
great mafter-piece, he is now ferioufly em- 
ployed upon uch a work of immortality ; 
but from the difficulty of attaining what 
he requires of himfelf, and from the ufual 
cenfiderate flownets ofhis pen, we may con- 
jecture that this work will not foon appear 
before the public. Falk, to ufe his own 
words is determined not to remain for ever 
merely a moral police officer. The pro- 
mifed chef-d*aeuvre will be of the dramagic 
kind, and entitled Prometheus. 
“Falk is a native of Dantzic, where “in 
his earlier years he diligently followed the 
trade of a hair-dreffer, being that of his 
father: his firft efforts in poetry were fome 
new-years” odes, addreficd to his cufto- 
mers, when he was fuddenly feized by 
Apollo, and happily tranfported from his 
fhop and his wig-block into the region of 
the liberal arts. From that time he con- 
tinued to form himéelf chiefly without any 
affiftance from others. Having heard that 
the Senate of Dantzic intended to with- 
draw from him a ftipend which he enjoyed 
from them, he fent them his Satire agatnft 
Man—and his penfion was confirmed to 
him. Having a very exalted opinion of 
the mechanical part of the poetic art, he 
honoursVofs, in this refpeét, above all the 
moderns: and in thefe un-Grecian times 
Gothe is his principal pattern m compofi- 
tion. 
For the Iaft five years he has annually 
publithed a Satirical Almanack, m which 
he lafhes without mercy the follies and 
charlatanries of the political and literary 
world. In one of thefe Almanacks he had, 
as an eye-witnefs (for wherever he con 
he never fails to vifit the afylums o 
fering humanity) expofed the abu 
defects of the great hofvital at Berlin, 
ealled Charité, and lafhed as they ae 
aa) the 
