Gottsched

Gottsched, Johann Christoph, was born at Konigsberg in 170C. and became Professor of Poetry in the university there, being transferred in 1734 to the chair of logic and metaphysics at Leipzig, The great work of his life was the subjection of the German drama to the standard of classical criticism.

His own writings for the stage were contemptible. but he collected, under the title of Die Deutsche Schaubuhne a number of plays by J. C. Schlegel and others, with some translations from the French.

His most meritorious production, however, is his Nbthiger Vorrath zur Gesichte der dentschen dvamatischen Dichtkunst, in which he gives a fair but imperfect account of the efforts of earlier dramatists. He was a pedant, but he did something towards checking the extravagance in style and matter of some of his contemporaries. He died in 1766. His wife was a woman of culture, who translated the Spectator and Pope's Rape of the Lock into German.