(Christian), one of the finest geniuses Germany has produced, was born at Henichen, near Freiburg in Saxony, in 1715, and studied at Leipzig; at which university he was for many years professor of philosophy and the belles lettres. He early distinguished himself by his talent for poetry; and contracted a strict friendship with the most learned and polite writers in Germany. All his works are filled with sentiment, and bear the impression of the sweetness of his disposition. The most considerable of them are his comedies, his spiritual songs, and moral poems, and particularly his sacred odes, his fables, and his tales. He died in 1769, much lamented.