Note 40 — Chapter II · THE RALLY OF GERMANY—LESSING.

Gellert, who was a sort of “prefect” for his time in this school of modern German literature, gave at least one proof of practical wisdom which few men of letters have equalled. Frederic the Great sent for him, poured oil over him from his beard to the skirts of his clothing, and invited him again. Gellert did not go. As for the others, Christian Mylius, dying young, had the further good luck to be a friend of Lessing, who edited his Vermischte Schriften (Berlin, 1754). They run from Theology to Vivisection. The chief critical piece is a tractate (1743), Von den Reimen und dem Sylbenmasse in Schauspielen. Mylius is against rhyme both in Tragedy and in Comedy.