MINNA VON BARNHELM
OR
THE SOLDIER'S FORTUNE

by GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING




Translated By
Ernest Bell



INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22,
1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen
and Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty.
In 1748 he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time
was powerfully influenced by him. The most important product of
this period was his tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a modern
version of the story of Medea, which began the vogue of the
sentimental middle-class play in Germany. After a second sojourn
in Leipzic (1755-1758), during which he wrote criticism, lyrics,
and fables, Lessing returned to Berlin and began to publish his
"Literary Letters," making himself by the vigor and candor of his
criticism a real force in contemporary literature. From Berlin he
went to Breslau, where he made the first sketches of two of his
greatest works, "Laocoon" and "Minna von Barnhelm," both of which