minister. In 1782, he retired from public life, and subsequently travelled,-which he continued to do for a considerable time. He died at Cobourg, on the 26th of Oct. 1817. THÜMMEL may justly rank among the most original and esteemed of humorous German prose-writers. His poetical talents are effectively seconded by an accurate knowledge of men and manners; while his forte more particularly lies in catching hold of the various drolleries of real life. Thümmel can weave the most trifling matters into the web of his story with great tact and skill.

Thümmel, like Wieland, remarks Bouterweck (vol. xi. p. 447), "lingers in the weaknesses of the human heart. He exhibits, with all the self-complacency of the satirist, the blandishments of life, and the allurements of those follies, which proceed from no real depravity. A stream of imagination and of irony runs through his "Sittengemälde."

Thümmel's "Wilhelmine oder der vermählte Pedant," a tale of the pure German complexion, is a portraiture of circumstances, facts, and practices of the old school. "Wilhelmine,” says Schlosser, "has won itself a niche in our classical literature, and will survive its romantic brotherhood." It is a very pleasant book, full of natural actions, true to life and character, and in parts even grand.

"Die Inoculation der Liebe" is a story in verse, full of witticisms, containing, moreover, some clever descriptions. Thümmel's great and best work, however, is his "Reise in die mittäglichen Provinzen von Frankreich," consisting of humorous tales, with occasional sentimental reflections. It entertains by its wit and vivacity, by the elegance of the style in which it is written, and by its pourtrayal of the accomplishments appertaining to a man of the world. It is, in short, quite as instructive as it is entertaining. The poetry in it is good, and appropriately introduced.

THEODOR GOTTLIEB HIPPEL (1741-1796)

Was born at Gerdauen, in East Prussia, on the 31st of Jan

uary 1741. He studied in Königsberg, where he became the prime-burgomaster and president. He died on the 23rd of April 1796.

The productions of this writer, which came out anonymously, are of a very singular kind,-in exact keeping with almost the whole manner of his private life. He was quite poor when he began his literary career, having nothing, scarcely, to depend upon but the produce of his pen. However, Hippel became president of Königsberg, and was able to leave behind him a fortune of one hundred and forty thousand dollars. His descriptions are as truthful and characteristic as if they had actual existence; they depict still life in all its aspects. He can also descend to the deepest pathos; whilst, on the other hand, he can turn to account the most delicate humours, and satirize the prevalent affectations and fashions of the day.

We may consider Hippel as the representative of a distinct literary school, of which the characteristics are very singular and peculiar. Its forms may be classed under three heads, or divisions, viz.: the poetic, the satiric, and the humorous. These writers tread closely on the romantic, and now and then affect the homely and the familiar. Human life is frequently developed with a wonderful degree of truthfulness. Hippel was the first writer who imparted these mixed peculiarities to literature: in his footsteps followed Jean Paul, in all respects eclipsing his predecessor. Hoffman was the next; and then came Benzel Sternau,―he, in turn, being succeeded by a great number of imitators. Kant terms Hippel "einen Plan und Central Kopf," a writer ready at inventing comprehensive plots, and skilful in working them out: there is, certainly, great elegance in his mode of treating them. Nothing in Hippel's writings is chargeable with being either common-place or vulgar. We may mention, as a favourable specimen of Hippel's powers, his treatise, "über die Ehe," which, with

the two preceding works, had the effect of establishing his literary reputation upon an immoveable basis.

Another work of Hippel's, a great favourite in its day, and not now entirely forgotten, is "Lebensläufe nach aufsteigender Linie," which came out in 1778. The dogmas of speculative philosophy, and the maxims of practical life, are placed, in this work, in direct juxta-position, while they alternate amusingly in a clothing of wit and satire, not often equalled.

Hippel generally adopted the popular philosophy of Kant in his expositions; a thing that he was enabled to do by the thorough acquaintance he had with Kant's writings, joined to the personal intimacy he could boast of holding with the philosopher himself; and thus this system of philosophy became, through him, more intelligible than it might otherwise have been to the majority of the reading public.

Hippel's biography-which may be met with in the "Necrolog von Schlichtegroll"—is a good commentary upon the common careers of life. It is in part purely imaginative, in part a narrative of facts, with glances at the state of religious society as it existed at Königsberg, while Hippel himself constitutes the hero of the work. His last, and perhaps his most striking effort, is, " Kreuz und Queerzüge des Ritters A bis Z" (1783), a simple, interesting, and affecting narrative. This work parallels his "Lebensläufe," as a picture of human character, and it exhibits several varieties of humour, which are strengthened by contrast with passages of sentiment and reflection.

The style of Hippel's compositions may be commended, notwithstanding he is occasionally open to the imputation of carelessness and inaccuracy.

JOHANN PAUL FRIEDRICH RICHTER (1763-1825) COMMONLY CALLED JEAN PAUL,"

66

Was the son of a clergyman, and was born at Wunsiedel, on

the 21st of March 1763. He studied theology at Leipsic, but soon abandoned it, in order to devote himself entirely to the cultivation of the muses. Jean Paul passed his latter years in retirement at Baireuth, and died, as doctor of philosophy and member of the academy of Munich, on the 14th of November 1825, after having suffered much from an opthalmic disease.

This writer unquestionably stands at the head of the literary section in which we have classed him. The domestic circumstances and seclusion under which he was brought up, gave him that quality of mind, which brings him within the province of the humorous "Genredichter." The artificial tendencies of the age in which he lived, kindled within him contempt for them; but, at the same time, with a strong sympathy for nature. His friends flattered him with the notion of his becoming both Shakspeare and Sterne.

Jean Paul was the author who introduced poetry into the realities of life, and accustomed himself to seek the ideal of human events, and to delineate it in his compositions; he was likewise skilful in weaving every-day affairs into the thread of his narratives,—which are, therefore, as pregnant with actualities and homelinesses, as if they had been written by Hippel himself. He united, in his writings, a tone both ill-natured and amiable-sceptical and child-like,-and was boundless in wit and humour. Placed midway between the romantic and the real-life, the spiritual and the "Genre" schools of writing,-Jean Paul exercised most influence upon the first of these classes. He was in congenial fellowship with Wieland, inasmuch as he wrought into his "bürgerliche Romane" all the fantastic elements peculiar to the romances of the middle ages; and this in the same vein as Wieland, when he combines the chivalrous Grecian spirit with the modes of thinking and feeling peculiar to modern life.

Richter, in his works, describes human life in all its

aspects of light and shade. His works are grand in their poetic outline, and elaborate in their artistic finish. They give evidence of a genius vast and sublime.

His view of the world was tinted with humour, and frequently with a cast of melancholy. There are glaring differences in the writings of Richter. His readers become the confidants in his regret for the general weakness and depravity of human nature, and are made acquainted with the evil, natural and moral, that is prevalent in the world, with the retinue of social vices. He sets forth, in the most vivid and truthful colours, every known description of human misery and wretchedness, and this with an honest and sympathizing feeling. Then, again, he passes into a sweet and tender melancholy, enabling him to place before us the calm virtues and quietudes of refined life. In most of these depictures, an aspect of sorrowfulness, or irony, may be detected by the careful and intelligent reader.

Jean Paul has extraordinary skill in description; occasionally he opens his page with a train of the bitterest satire, which pierces through everything. In the same breath, he throws off graceful sallies of sportive irony, or of lively humour, which invest everything with an air of ridicule, and make the reader laugh, when but a moment before he had been affected almost to tears. Jean Paul's works contain a treasure of reflections, in a detached form, of most pointed and significant character. His vein of language is very fine; his terms are varied and costly. His style, in short, may not inaptly be denominated “Jean Paul's own." All sorts of newly-coined words, combinations, and abbreviations - countless almost in their variety —of expressions, phrases, and even whole sentences, are his literary peculiarities; which add, it must be owned, a singular beauty, and a particular elegance, to a coinage of idioms altogether novel and piquant in their nature. On the other hand, it is precisely this circumstance which creates a difficulty of no ordinary kind to the foreigner who attempts to read his works.