SIR

See also:

• WILLIAM
• WILLIAM (1143-1214)
• WILLIAM (1227-1256)
• WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
• WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
• WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
• WILLIAM, 13TH

WILLIAM

See also:

• SIR WILLIAM GELL (1777-1836)

GELL (1777-1836)  , English classical archaeologist, was born at Hopton in Derbyshire . He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and subsequently elected a fellow of Emmanuel College (B.A . 1798, M.A . 1804) . About rSoo he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Ionian islands, and on his return in 1803 he was knighted . He went with Princess (after-wards Queen) Caroline to Italy in 1814 as one of her chamberlains, and gave evidence in her favour at the trial in 182o (see G . P . Clerici, A Queen of Indiscretions, Eng. trans., London, 1907) . He died at Naples on the 4th of February 1836 . His numerous drawings of classical ruins and localities, executed with great detail and exactness, are preserved in the British Museum . Gell was a thorough dilettante, fond of society and possessed of little real scholarship . None the less his topographical works became recognized text-books at a time when Greece and even Italy were but superficially known to English travellers .

He was a fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the

Institute of France and theraise the religious and moral character of the people, and to this end employed language which; though at times prolix, was always correct and clear . He thus became one of the most popular German authors, and some of his poems enjoyed a celebrity out of proportion to their literary value . This is more particularly true of his Fabeln and Erzahlungen (1746-1748) and of his Geistliche Oden and Lieder (1757) . The fables, for which he took La Fontaine as his model, are simple and didactic . The " spiritual songs," though in force and dignity they cannot compare with the older church hymns, were received by Catholics and Protestants with equal favour . Some of them were set to music by Beethoven . Gellert wrote a few comedies: Die Betschwester (1745), Die kranke Frau (1748), Das Los in der Lotterie (1748), and Die zdrtlichen Schwestern (1748), the last of which was much admired . His novel Die schwedische Grafin von G . (1746), a weak imitation of Richardson's Pamela, is remarkable as being the first German attempt at a psychological novel . Gellert's Briefe (letters) were regarded at the time as models of good style . See Gellert's Samtliche Schriften (first edition, 10 vols., Leipzig, 1769–1774; last edition, Berlin, 1867) . Samtliche Fabeln und Erzaklungen have been often published separately, the latest edition in 1896 .

A selection of Gellert's

poetry (with an excellent introduction) will be found in F . Muncker, Die Bremer Beitrage (Stuttgart, 1899) . A translation by J . A . Murke, Gellert's Fables and other Poems (London, 1851) . For a further account of Gellert's life and work see lives by J . A . Cramer (Leipzig, 1774), H . Doring (Greiz, 1833), and H . O . Nietschmann (2nd ed., Halle, 19o1); also Gellerts Tagebuch aus dem Jahre 1761 (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1863) and Gellerts Briefwechsel mit Demoiselle Lucius (Leipzig, 1823) .