Alarmed by reports of what was supposed to be his dissolute life, the elder Lessing summoned him to Kamenz, where he remained for some months. He soon succeeded in overcoming the fears of his parents, who allowed him to return to Leipsic on condition that he would devote himself to the study of medicine. Some medical lectures he did attend; but his ambition was to become a great dramatist, and as long as Frau Neuber’s company kept together he occupied himself almost exclusively with the theatre, being frequently present at rehearsal during the day as well as at the performance in the evening.

In 1748 the company broke up, and Lessing, finding nothing to interest him in Leipsic, went to Wittenberg, and afterwards, towards the end of the year, to Berlin, where his friend Mylius had established himself as a journalist and man of science. In Berlin Lessing now-spent three years, maintaining himself chiefly by literary work. He translated two volumes of Rollin’s history, wrote some of the best of his early plays, and, in association with Mylius, started a periodical (which soon came to an end) for the discussion of matters connected with the drama, Early in 1751 he accepted the office of literary critic to the Foss Gazette, and in this position he reviewed some of the most important German and French books of the day, manifesting already to some extent the learning, judgment, and wit which were to make him the greatest critic of modern times. His father had been bitterly opposed to his scheme of life, and in 1751 urged him to complete his studies at the university of Wittenberg. Feeling the need of further thought and research, Lessing at last consented, and at the close of the year left Berlin. It is worthy of note that he had been brought into slight contact with Voltaire, for whom he had translated some documents relating to the Hirsch trial. Voltaire’s secretary having lent him a volume of the Siècle de Louis XIV., which had not yet beeu published, he took it with him to Wittenberg. This came to the ears of Voltaire, who assumed that Lessing intended to print either a pirated edition or an unauthorized translation. The affair led to an angry correspondence, and was a subject of much talk in Berlin.

Lessing remained about a year in Wittenberg, where he passed most of his time in the university library, every volume in which, he afterwards declared, had passed through his hands. Having taken the degree of master of arts, he returned to Berlin, determined to make literature his profession; and the next three years were among the busiest of his life. Besides translating for the booksellers, he issued several numbers of the Theatralische Bibliothek, a periodical essentially the same as that which he had begun with Mylius. He also resumed his labours as critic to the Voss Gazette. For many years the most influential writer in Germany had been Gottsched, the Leipsic professor, who continually proclaimed the necessity of rigid adherence, in the drama and in poetry, to French rules. In his articles for the Voss Gazette, Lessing made it his principal object to ridicule the pretensions of Gottsched and his school, and in a short time there was no writer of whom they were so much afraid. In 1754 he produced a deep impression by Ein Vade Mecum für den Herrn Sam. Gotth. Lange, in which he exposed with bitter satire Lange’s errors in his popular translation of Horace. During these three years Lessing took a definite position in contemporary literature by issuing, in six small volumes, those of his writings which he considered worthy of preservation. They included his lyrics and epigrams, some of the latter being in German, others in Latin. Most of his lyrics were written in Leipsic, and bad already appeared, during his first residence in Berlin, in a volume of Kleinigkeiten, published without his name. Although they do not, like Goethe’s lyrics, touch deep sources of natural feeling, they have the merit of being bright, gay, and musical, and some of them are still sung by German students. The epigrams, many of which were produced in Wittenberg, are in the style of Martial, and give evidence, like Lessing’s critical writings, of a keen and biting humour. Among his collected writings there was also a remarkable series of Letters, in which, for the first time in German literature, some of the results of extensive learning were presented in a free and vivid style. Even more important, perhaps, were the papers entitled Rettungen, in which he undertook to vindicate the character of various writers who had been misunderstood by preceding generations. One of the best of these Rettungen is on Horace, whom he defends against the critics who charge him with sensuality and cowardice. In another, almost equally good, he shows that Cardan, instead of being an atheist, did full justice to the evidences for Christianity, as they were understood in his time, while he did rather less than justice to other religions. This essay contains a powerful argument in favour of Mohammedanism, developed from the point of view of an intelligent believer in the Γrophet. In addition to these varied contents, Lessing published in the six volumes of his Schriften his early plays and Miss Sara Sampson. Of the former the chief are Der Junge Gelehrte, already mentioned, Der Freidenker, Die Juden, and Der Misogyn. Although superior to any other German comedies produced at the same time, they cannot be said to reveal a high dramatic faculty. In the arrangement of his plots and the balancing of his characters, Lessing follows closely the methods of contemporary French comedy, and in the dialogue there is often a too obvious straining after effect. Miss Sara Sampson, written in 1755, marks a wholly different stage of his development. It has many faults both in conception and in execution, but it exercised a powerful influence by indicating to the dramatists of Germany that materials for tragedy are to be found in the experiences of ordinary men and women as well as in those of “the great.” Lessing attributed much importance to this principle, which had been suggested to him chiefly by the study of Richardson, whose Clarissa is almost exactly reproduced in the heroine of Miss Sara Sampson.

This tragedy, when represented in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, was received with so much applause that he resolved to devote himself to the drama; and in fulfilment of his design he suddenly quitted Berlin in October 1755, and went to Leipsic, where a good theatre had been lately established. During his second residence in Berlin he had made his name widely known, and he had secured several friends, whose affection he retained during the rest of his life. The chief of these was Moses Mendelssohn, in association with whom, in 1755, he wrote an admirable treatise, Pope ein Metaphysiker, tracing sharply the lines which separate the poet from the philosopher. The Berlin Academy of Sciences had offered a prize for the best essay on Pope’s doctrine that “Whatever is, is right,” as compared with the optimism of Leibnitz. The treatise of the two friends was written to show that there cannot be a true comparison between a poetic and a philosophic conception; and they threw much light on the aims both of Leibnitz and of Pope. Other Berlin friends of Lessing were Nicolai, the bookseller, and Ramler, the author of many well-known odes. He had also made the acquaintance of Gleim, the Halberstadt poet, and Ewald Christian von Kleist, a Prussian officer, whose fine poem, Der Frühling, had won for him Lessing’s warm esteem.

In Leipsic, Lessing was asked by Winkler, a wealthy young merchant, to accompany him in a foreign tour, which was to last three years. As he offered liberal terms, Lessing consented; and early in the summer of 1756 they started for England. They did not, however, get beyond Amsterdam, for after the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War they heard that Winkler’s house was occupied by the Prussian commandant; and he deemed it necessary to hasten back. After some time Winkler was offended by Lessing’s intimacy with certain Prussian officers, and suddenly announced to him that he must consider their engagement at an end. Lessing demanded compensation, and in the end the courts decided in his favour, but not until the case had dragged on for about six years. In the meantime it detained him in Leipsic, and, as there was little opportunity for earning money by literature in a city occupied by foreign troops, he went through a period of extreme hardship. During these anxious months he begin the study of mediaeval poetry, in which some interest had been awakened by the Swiss school of critics; he also translated several English writings, and worked occasionally for the Bibliothek, a periodical edited by Nicolai. Fortunately he had an opportunity of developing his friendship with Kleist, who happened to be stationed in Leipsic. Kleist, a man of truly heroic temper, with the simplicity of a child, was powerfully attracted by Lessing’s frank and noble nature, and Lessing loved him with an ardour which was excited by no other friend, not even by Mendelssohn. Kleist’s regiment being ordered to new quarters early in 1758, Lessing decided not to remain behind him, and, saying farewell to his friend (who was mortally wounded in the following year at the battle of Kunersdorf), he returned once more to Berlin.

His third residence in Berlin was made memorable by the Literaturbriefe, a series of critical essays (written in the form of letters to a wounded officer) on the principal works that had appeared since the beginning of the Seven Years’ War. The scheme was suggested by Nicolai, by whom the Letters were published. Those written by Lessing manifested far higher intellectual power than anything he had yet accomplished. The critical principles set forth in the Literaturbriefe are now universally recognized, but they were then new, and even at the present day they seem to derive fresh vitality from the force, precision, and animation with which he expresses them. He insisted especially on the necessity of truth to nature in the imaginative presentation of the facts of life, and in one letter he boldly proclaimed the superiority of Shakespeare to Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. At the same time he marked the immutable conditions to which even genius must submit in order to move enduring sympathies. While in Berlin at this time, he edited with Ramler a selection from the writings of Logau, a vigorous epigrammatist of the 17th century, and introduced to the German public The War Songs of a Grenadier, by Gleim. He admired the vigour of these songs, but in several private letters protested against the vehemence of the author’s patriotism—patriotism being a virtue which, he thought, he “could do very well without.” In 1759 he published Philotas, a prose tragedy; and in the same year appeared a complete collection of his fables, with an essay on the essential idea of the fable. The latter is one of his best essays in criticism, defining with perfect lucidity what is meant by “the action” in works of imagination, and distinguishing the action of the fable on the one hand from that of the epic and the drama on the other. His theory prevented him from lending poetic interest to his own fables, but they surpass the works of all other German fabulists in the depth and variety of the moral truths which they are intended to enforce.

In 1760, weary of incessant writing, and feeling that change of scene and work was necessary for his health, Lessing went to Breslau to apply for the post of secretary to General Tauentzien, to whom Kleist had introduced him in Leipsic. Tauentzien was not only a general in the Prussian army, but governor of Breslau, and director of the mint. He willingly granted the vacant office to Lessing, who retained it for more than four years. He thus found himself in circumstances wholly different from those to which he had been hitherto accustomed. He associated chiefly with Prussian officers, went much into society, and became passionately fond of the gaming table, where he played for such high stakes that even General Tauentzien expostulated with him. While, however, he seemed to be wasting his energies, he never lost sight of his true goal. He gradually collected a library of about 6000 volumes (which he was ultimately obliged to sell); and after the conclusion of the Seven Years’War in 1763 he resumed more enthusiastically than ever the studies which had been partly interrupted. In investigating the early history of Christianity, he obtained a profound knowledge of the fathers; and a remarkable letter to Mendelssohn shows that he had penetrated more deeply than any contemporary thinker into the significance of the philosophy of Spinoza. In 1764 he was prostrated by a severe illness, during which he reviewed, in a rather sorrowful spirit, his past life, and formed many serious resolutions for the future. Before this time he had worked hard at Laocoon, and in fresh spring mornings he had sketched in a garden the plan of Minna von Barnhelm. His parents were now in exceedingly straitened circumstances, and often appealed to him for aid. He responded generously to their demands, but they greatly overrated his power to help them, as they assumed that he intended to remain permanently in General Tauentzien’s service. In reality, he had always regarded the engagement as a temporary one, and in 1765 he resigned his office, and left Breslau.

It seemed not improbable that he might find a suitable appointment in Dresden, but he was again compelled, much against his will, to become a resident of Berlin, whither he went after a brief visit to Kamenz and Leipsic. His friends exerted themselves to obtain for him the office of keeper of the royal library, but Frederick had not forgotten Lessing’s quarrel with Voltaire, and declined to consider his claims, although, about the time when Lessing went to Breslau, he had confirmed his election as a foreign member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. During the two years which Lessing now spent in the Prussian capital he was restless and unhappy, yet it was during this period that he published two of his greatest works— Laocoon in 1766, and Minna von Barnhelm in 1767. Laocoon ranks as a classic not only in German but in European literature, and its style alone, which is as near perfection as anything Lessing ever wrote, would almost entitle it to this position. His central aim is to define by analysis the limitations of poetry and the plastic arts. Many of his conclusions have been corrected and extended by later criticism; but he indicated more decisively than any of his predecessors the fruitful principle that each art is subject to definite conditions, and that it can accomplish great results only by limiting itself to its special function. The most valuable parts of the work are those which relate to poetry, of which he had a much more intimate knowledge than of sculpture and painting. His exposition of the methods of Homer and Sophocles is especially suggestive, and he may be said to have marked an epoch in the appreciation of these writers, and of Greek literature generally. He invariably starts from the consideration of doctrines set forth by other scholars (chiefly Winkelmann, Caylus, and Spence); but he is never satisfied until he arrives at positive principles, and he leads us towards them gradually by the paths he himself has trodden, glancing at many side issues by the way. He was unable in later years to complete his scheme, but even in its fragmentary form, as Goethe testifies in Wahrheit und Dichtung, Laocoon was welcomed with gratitude by the most active minds of the age. The power of Minna von Barnhelm was also immediately recognized. This is, on the whole, the best of Lessing’s purely dramatic writings. The hero, Tellheim, is an admirable study of a manly and sensitive soldier, with somewhat exaggerated ideas of conventional honour; and Minna, the heroine, is one of the brightest and most attractive figures in the dramatic literature of Germany. The subordinate characters are conceived with the same force and vividness; and the plot, which reflects precisely the struggles and aspirations of the period that immediately followed the Seven Years’ War, is simply and naturally unfolded. This beautiful play is valued by the Germans, not only as a work of art, but as one of the earliest and most striking manifestations of the growing spirit of German nationality.

In 1767 Lessing settledin Hamburg, where he had been invited to take part in the institution of a national theatre. The scheme promised well, and, as he associated himself with Bode, a literary man whom he respected, in starting a printing establishment, he hoped that he might at last look forward to a peaceful and prosperous career. The theatre, however, being mismanaged, was soon closed, while the printing establishment failed, and left behind it a heavy burden of debt. Many of Lessing’s letters from Hamburg breathe almost a spirit of despair, and towards the end of his residence there he determined to quit Germany, believing that in Italy he might find congenial labour that would suffice for his wants. Even in Hamburg he made splendid contributions to enduring literature, the chief being his Hamburgische Dramaturgie. It consists of criticisms of some of the plays represented in the Hamburg theatre; but in these criticisms he offers a complete theory of the laws of dramatic art In the main his theory is that of Aristotle, but it is maintained on independent grounds and applied in new ways....