424 
ever all his poetic effufions. This how- 
ever fortunately wore away entirely after 
afew years, from traveliing, increafe of 
fociety, a frefh attachment, a growing 
fame, and conftant occupation of his men- 
tal powers. 
The Meffiah acquired in the fpace of a 
few years its merited attention from all 
ranks in Germany. It found friends and 
€nemies, admirers and critics, every 
where ; but its approbation was owing as 
much.to the facrednefs of the matter as 
the beauty of the poetry : Chriitian read- 
ers loved it as a book that afforded them 
at length, amidf the dry themes of cold 
orthodoxy, fome-fcope for devout feeling ; 
young preachers quoted it in the pulpit, 
and coupled the name of Klopftock with 
that of the prophets. The ftauncher clafs 
of divincs, indeed, who are ever alive to 
any inroads on their facred jurifdiction, 
gave the poem the appellation of prefump- 
tuous fiction, contaminating the Scripture- 
hiftory with fables, and undermining the 
faith. An honeft village-preacher once 
yeaited on him to beg for God’s fake and 
the fake of religion, that he would not let 
Abadonna (the fallen-angel) be biefled 
inthe end. Jadges, or fuch as would be 
thought fo, pronounced their fentences 
freely, either for or againft this new epo- 
pee, in journals cr pamphlets. However, 
thefe firft critics un both fides were fuper- 
ficial, premature, and mifguided judges : 
with the exception of Lefhiog, George 
Hefs, and fome few other writers, at that 
period there was not one who deferved the 
Yeaft notice. The parcifans of the Ger- 
man grammarian Gottfched raifed the 
greatelt clamour againft the work, cn the 
ground of the language, and fought by 
poor arguments and forry wit to depreciate 
its merits. The Swifs critics, as oppo- 
nents to the Saxons, on the other hand, ex- 
tolled and defeeded it with all their might. 
Bodmer, in particular, the admirer and 
tranflator of Milton, embraced the caufe 
of the German epic bard with enthufialtic 
ardour, and contributed very grea'ly, by 
his warm eulogium, to accelerate the uni- 
verfal celebrity cf his poem. Klopitock 
heard and profited by the public difqui- 
fitions, but never engaged in any of the 
difputes. 
About this time our poet was invited 
by Bodmer and his friends to vifit them in 
Switzerland, where his poem had gone be- 
fore, to pave the way for his moft hearty 
reception ; as in this country it had pro- 
duced an immediate and powerful impref- 
fion in his faveur. Klopftock accepted 
the invitation, and travelled in the fum- 
/ 
Momoirs of Klopftock, the German Pret. 
- fed to them. 
[June 1, 
mer of the year 1750, accompanied by the - 
philofopher Sulzer, to Zurich, where he 
was received with open arms, and every 
one emulated to make his ftay agreeable. 
He refided at Bodmer’s houfe, with whom 
he had previouily carried on a correfpon- 
dence ; and the latter viewed his gueft 
with a fort of veneration notunlike whata 
believer would feel on feeing a holy poet er 
prophet of the Old Covenant, if any fuch 
were to make his appearance. . Nay, he 
atiached to the cbaraéter which Klopftock 
had affumed, fuch very high ideas of 
fanctity, that he confidered it a fort of 
profanation of his holy calling for the bard 
of the Meffiah to enter into the gay fociety 
of his younger friends. His tame was not 
confined to the cities or literary circies 
only; it extended itfelf over the rugged 
mountaics of Switzerland. Two girls 
once came down the lake from Glarus, 
with the fole intent of feeing the divine 
peet who had cloathed the facred fubjeét 
of the Mefliah in language fuited to its 
dignity. He paffed three quarters of a 
year in Switzerland ; and immortalized 
his worthy ho& Bodmer, as alfo his own 
famous Tour on the lake of Zurich, by 
two charming odes, 
Klopftock did not confine his vifits to 
Zurich only, but undertook a journey into 
fevera] of the neighbouring cantons. The 
air of Switzerland, that breathed. the 
noble fentiments of patriotifm and of free- 
dom, was congenial to the fervour of the 
poet’s foul, and wrought him to that 
pitch of infpiration that approximates 
man the. neareft to his Maker. ‘The un- 
corrupted German fmplicity of manners 
ftill prevalent in this country had the live- 
lieft effect in cherifhing the tranquil cur- 
rent of his feelings. He found the people 
his friends, and was ne Jels friendly difpo- 
‘They even wifhed to detain 
him amongft them, by granting him the 
righis of a Swifs citizen, and forming a 
rich matrimonial alliance for him ; to all 
which he fele himfelf perfectly -inclined, 
and was on the point of becoming their 
countryman and brother. 
However, his detiny tock another turn 
this fummer, no lefs favourable to his ex- 
ternal circumftances. As he poffefled no 
independence, he had it in contemplation 
to enter on that courfe of life which feve- 
ral of his friends and acquaintances, as © 
Ebert, Gertner, Zacharia, and others, 
had cholen, namely, that of the fcholaftic 
and pedagogic line in the higher {chools, 
for the procuring which fituation he relied 
on the intereft of Jerufalem at the Court of 
Brunfwick, How ealily might the poet 
bave - 
