were issued after his return to the Prussian capital. Failing in
his effort to be appointed Director of the Royal Library by
Frederick the Great, Lessing went to Hamburg in 1767 as critic of
a new national theatre, and in connection with this enterprise he
issued twice a week the "Hamburgische Dramaturgie," the two
volumes of which are a rich mine of dramatic criticism and theory.

His next residence was at Wolfenbuttel, where he had charge of the
ducal library from 1770 till his death in 1781. Here he wrote his
tragedy of "Emilia Galotti," founded on the story of Virginia, and
engaged for a time in violent religious controversies, one
important outcome of which was his "Education of the Human Race."
On being ordered by the Brunswick authorities to give up
controversial writing, he found expression for his views in his
play "Nathan the Wise," his last great production.

The importance of Lessing's masterpiece in comedy, "Minna von
Barnhelm," is difficult to exaggerate. It was the beginning of
German national drama; and by the patriotic interest of its
historical background, by its sympathetic treatment of the German
soldier and the German woman, and by its happy blending of the
amusing and the pathetic, it won a place in the national heart
from which no succeeding comedy has been able to dislodge it.





MINNA VON BARNHELM
OR