(Conrad), a celebrated physician and naturalist, was born at Zurich in 1516. Having finished his studies in France, he travelled into Italy, and taught medicine and philosophy in his own country with extraordinary reputation. He was acquainted with the languages; and excelled so much in natural history, that he was surnamed the Pliny of Germany. He died in 1564, leaving many works behind him; the principal of which are, 1. A history of animals, plants, and fossils; 2. Bibliotheca Universalis. A Greek and Latin lexicon. This author is by Boerhaave emphatically styled Monstrum Eruditionis, a prodigy of learning. Those indeed (as Mr Coxe observes in his Letters on Switzerland) "who are conversant with the works of this great scholar and naturalist, cannot represent their wonder and admiration at the amplitude of his knowledge in every species of erudition, and the variety of his discoveries in natural history, which was his peculiar delight. Their wonder and admiration is still further augmented, when they consider the gross ignorance of the age which he helped to enlighten, and the scanty succours he professed to aid him in thus extending the bounds of knowledge; that he composed his works, and made those discoveries which would have done honour to the most enlightened period, under the complicated evils of poverty, sickness, and domestic uneasiness."

(Solomon), the celebrated author of the Death of Abel and many other admired works in the German language, was born at Zurich in the year 1730. In his early years he showed very few signs of superior abilities; and his progress in the rudiments of education was so slow, that his master gave him up as incapable of any greater attainments than writing and the four first rules of arithmetic. Upon this he was placed under a clergyman in the neighbourhood, a relation of his father's, and who showed himself better acquainted with the art of discovering the natural inclinations of his pupils. This gentleman often carried young Gfner with him into the fields, where he made him observe the beauties of nature; and finding that he took great pleasure in such lessons, and seemed to listen to them with peculiar attention, he occasionally repeated some of the most striking passages of the ancient authors, who have written on these subjects, in the most agreeable and pleasing manner. By this ingenious artifice, the mind of young Gfner began to open, and its powers to expand; and it is, perhaps, owing to this circumstance, that he became so fond of the language of Virgil and Theocritus. When he arrived at a proper age to think of pursuing some line of business, Mr Gfner made choice of that of a bookseller, which was the profession of his father, and in some measure of his family. Of five houses at Zurich in the printing and bookselling business, two were occupied by Gfners; one belonged to two brothers of that name; and the other, that in which our poet had a share, was known by the firm of Orel, Gfner, and Company. It was known also by the extent of its correspondence, and by the choice and elegance of the works which it gave to the public.

Though Mr Gfner was a bookseller, he did not, however, damp his genius by submitting to the drudgery of business. He indulged himself freely in pursuing his favourite object, and his partners never envied him that time which he devoted to meditation and study. In 1752, he made a tour through Germany, not so much for the purpose of extending his commerce, as to see and be acquainted with those authors who have done honour to their country. The following circumstance, which occurred during this tour, deserves to be mentioned, as it is strikingly characteristic of that timidity which often accompanies true genius. When Mr Gfner was at Berlin, he was admitted into a literary society, of which Gleim and Lessing were members. Each of the authors who composed it used to read in turn some piece of their own composition, and Mr Gfner was very desirous of submitting to these able critics a small work, which was his first attempt; but it was far from resembling those poets, whom Horace, and other satyrs have ridiculed, and who flun every one they meet by reciting their verses before them. As each of the members had done reading, Gfner was observed to move his hand with a kind of tremor towards his pocket, and to draw it back again without the manuscript which he ought to have produced. Having not as yet published anything, none of the company could guess the cause of a motion which his modesty prevented him from explaining. The work which he had not the courage to show, was his small poem, intitled Night, which he published on his return to Zurich in 1753. It was considered as an original, of which no model is to be found among the moderns; but in the opinion of the author, it was only a piece of imaginary painting, or, to use an expression of his own, in one of his letters to Mr Huber who has translated his works, "A caricature composed in the moments of folly or intoxication." In this little poem he has introduced a short episode on the origin of the glow-worm, containing a poetical explanation of this natural phosphorus, which has all the beauty of Ovid's Metamorphoses without their prolixity. The success of this essay emboldened the too timid muse of our young bookseller, and he published a pastoral romance, called *Daphnis*, in three cantos. The applause that was deservedly bestowed upon this performance induced the author to publish, some time after, his Idylls and some other rural poems in imitation of those of Theocritus. Pastoral poetry, which at this time was little known in Germany but by translations from foreign poets, began to find many partisans, and to be preferred to every other kind. Desirous, therefore, of tracing out a new path for himself, our poet thought that he could not do a more acceptable service to his countrymen, than to paint the felicity of innocence and rural life, and the tender emotions of love and gratitude. The only author worthy of notice who had preceded Mr Gefner in this career, was Mr Roß of Leipzig, whose pastoral poems appeared for the first time in 1744. This writer polished the language of the German shepherds; he had address enough to unite spirit and simplicity in a kind of writing which appears insipid without the former, and which becomes unnatural and dilapidated if it is too abundant. He sometimes throws a delicate veil over those images which are deficient in decency, but it is to be regretted that it is often too slight. Such was the antagonist against whom Gefner had to contend. Our poet, however, pursued a different course. Instead of placing, like Roß, his scenes in modern times, he goes back with Theocritus to the golden age, that happy age which we are fond of reviewing when our passions are calm, and when freed from those anxious cares which hurry us beyond ourselves, we contemplate amidst tranquillity the beauties and fertility of the country. The characters of Gefner's Idylls, therefore, are taken from those societies which exist no longer but in the remembrance or rather the imagination. His shepherds are fathers, children, and husbands, who blush not at these titles dear to nature, and to whom generosity, beneficence, and respect for the Deity, are sentiments no less familiar than love. These Idylls were the principal and favourite object of his pursuit, and that part of his works which acquired him the greatest reputation, especially among his countrymen. His death of Abel, which is well known, was published for the first time in 1758. It is written, like the rest of his pieces, in poetical prose; and was so much sought after, that it went through no less than three editions in the space of a year, without speaking of the spurious ones which appeared in Holland, at Berlin, and in France. The French edition was followed by several others. One came out in Italian; another in the Dutch language; a fourth in the Danish; and, lastly, two in English, one of them in prose and the other in verse. Among the pieces which Mr Gefner published after the Death of Abel, was his First Navigator, a poem in three cantos, which many people in Germany consider as his masterpiece. He made an attempt also in the pastoral drama, but not with the same success as in other kinds of rural poetry. He produced likewise, in the same style, Evander and Alcimene, in three acts; and Eratius, a small piece of one act, which was represented with some applause in several societies, both at Leipzig and Vienna.

But though poetry was Gefner's darling pursuit, and though he enriched the literature of his country with works which will render his name immortal, he did not confine himself to one manner of imitating nature; he in turns took up the pencil and the pen, and his active genius equally directed them both. In his infancy he had received a few lessons in drawing, and he had afterwards pursued this study, but without any intention of becoming an artist. At the age of thirty, he felt that violent desire, which may be considered as the voice of genius; and this was in some measure excited by the sight of a beautiful collection formed by Mr Heidegger, whose daughter he had married. To please his father-in-law, he studied this treasure, composed principally of the best pieces of the Flemish school; and to this new taste he had almost sacrificed every other. Mr Gefner at first ventured only to delineate some decorations for the frontispieces of curious books printed in his office; but by little and little, he had the courage to make other attempts. In 1752, he published ten landscapes etched and engraved by himself, and dedicated them to his friend Mr Watelet. Mr Gefner owed him this mark of respect for the care which he took to ornament with beautiful vignettes Mr Huber's translation of his Idylls. Twelve other pieces appeared in 1769; and after these attempts, Mr Gefner executed ornaments for many works which came from his presses, among which were his own works, a German translation of Swift, and several others.

Were we to judge from Mr Gefner's enthusiasm for his favourite pursuits, and from the time and attention which he bestowed upon them, we should be apt to conclude, that he found little leisure for discharging his duty as a citizen. The contrary, however, was the case, for he passed almost the half of his life in the first employments of the state. In 1765 he was called to the grand council, in 1767 to the lesser. In 1768 he was appointed bailiff of Eilbach, that of the four guards in 1776, and in 1781 superintendent of waters, which office in 1787 was continued to him for six years. In all these stations Mr Gefner discharged his duty with the most scrupulous fidelity; and died of a paralytical disorder, lamented by his countrymen and by those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, on the 2d of March 1788, at the age of 56.

As a pastoral poet, Gefner undoubtedly is intitled to a very distinguished rank; and we may justly say, that if he has been equalled by any, he has been excelled by none. It is commonly believed, that pastoral poetry is very limited and confined; but those who read the works of Gefner will be convinced, that it is susceptible of much variety when treated of by the hand of a master. His pastoral romance of Daphnis is not inferior in natural simplicity to the celebrated work of Longus; but it surpasses it far in variety of images and incident. Eratius and Evander are instructive and interesting poems, on account of the contrast between the world and nature which reigns throughout them; and his First Navigator unites the mildest philosophy to all the splendor and imagery of fairy-land. If we analyze his dramatic poems, we shall find in them interesting fictions, characters well delineated, and situations replete with novelty. His language is that of the Graces, and the choicest ears might listen to the love which he has created. If he has sometimes the humour of Sterne and Fontaine, it is without the licentiousness. The severest taste can find in his writings no lacuna to supply, no phrase deserving reprehension, nor could a more ingenious choice of expressions be substituted in the room of those which he has adopted.—Gefner's character, as a man, appears to be no less amiable. In whatever point of view we consider him, whether as a husband, a father, a friend, a magistrate, or a citizen, his virtues are equally conspicuous. He was naturally of a melancholy turn, but he was no enemy to rational and well-timed mirth; while the mildness and affability of his temper rendered his company always engaging, and endeared him to those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Possessed of that nobleness of sentiment, united with great modesty, which is the usual attendant of true genius, he was simple in his external appearance, as well as in his conversation. His language was lively and animated; but his reserve before strangers resembled timidity, and it was only in the presence of those with whom he was acquainted, that his real character appeared in its full lustre.

Mr Gefner's reputation and virtues were known even to the remotest parts of Europe. The empress of Russia Catharine II. presented him with a gold medal as a mark of her esteem. Strangers of all nations gave him no less flattering testimonies of their admiration; and travellers thought they had seen only the half of Switzerland, if they had not been in the company of Gefner, or procured some of his landscapes or drawings. In this half way he had acquired so much reputation, that he was ranked among the best artists of Germany; and Mr Fuellhorn, his countryman, who was himself a painter, in the preface to the third volume of the new edition which he published of his 'Historical essay on the painters, engravers, architects, and sculptors, who have done honour to Switzerland,' gives a distinguished place to Mr Gefner, though then living.