IFFLAND, August Wilhelm (1759-1814), a Ger man actor and dramatic author, was born in Hanover on the 19th of April 1759. His father was registrar at the war office of Hanover, and intended that his son should be a clergyman. Young Iffland, however, preferred the stage to theology, anl at the age of eighteen went to Gotha in order to prepare himself fur a theatrical career. At that time the greatest actor in Germany was Eckhof, a man of undoubted genius, for whom Lessing repeatedly expressed the warmest admiration in his Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Iffland was fortunate enough to receive instruction from him in Gotha, and under his guidance made such rapid progress that he was able in 1779 to accept an engagement at the theatre in Mannheim, then the most famous of the German theatres. He soon stood high in his profession, and extended his reputation by frequently appearing at the leading theatres in different parts of the country. In 1796 he settled in Berlin, where he became director of the national theatre of Prussia; and in 1811 he was made general director of all representations before royalty. On the 22d of September 1814 he died. His plays are almost entirely destitute of imagination; but they display a thorough mastery of the technical necessities of the stage, and a remarkable power of devising effective situations His best characters are simple and natural, fond of domestic life, but too much given to the utterance of sentimental commonplace. His best known plays are Die Jäger, Dienstpflicht, Die Advocaten, Die Mündel, and Die Hagestolzen, all of which are still occasionally represented. Iffland was a dramatic critic as well as a dramatic author, and German actors place high value on the reasonings and hints respecting their art which are to be found in his ...