his death. A short time previously he had been admitted under the title of The Immortal into the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft ("Fruitbearing Society"), a literary society, founded in 1617 by Ludwig, prince of Anhalt-Köthen on the model of the Italian academies. Gryphius grew up during the Thirty Years' War and witnessed the destruction of large parts of Germany, which had lasting effects for centuries. Not yet an adult himself, he saw the child of a benefactor (Crüger) die, and prepared another (Schönborner) for his approaching death. It is therefore not surprising that some morbid disposition, and his melancholy temperament, fostered by the misfortunes of his childhood is largely reflected in his lyrics, of which the most famous are the Kirchhofsgedanken ("Cemetery thoughts", 1656). His best works are his comedies, one of which, Absurda Comica, oder Herr Peter Squentz (1663), is evidently based on the comic episode of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Die geliebte Dornrose (1660), written in Silesian dialect, contains many touches of natural simplicity and grace, and ranks high among the comparatively small number of German dramas of the 17th century. Horribilicribrifax (1663), founded on the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, is a rather labored attack on pedantry. Besides these three comedies, Gryphius wrote five tragedies. In all of them the tendency is to become wild and bombastic, but he had the merit of at least attempting to work out artistically conceived plans, and there are occasional flashes both of passion and of imagination. His models seem to have been Seneca and Vondel. In Carolus Stuardus (1657) he dramatised events of his own day, namely the death of King Charles I of England; his other tragedies are Leo Armenius (1650); Catharina von Georgien (1657), Cardenio und Celinde (1657) and Papinianus (1659). No German dramatic writer before him had risen to so high a level, nor had he worthy successors until about the middle of the 18th century. Works Latin Herodis Furiae et Rachelis lachrymae, Głogów 1634 Dei Vindicis Impetus et Herodis Interitus, Gdańsk 1635 Parnassus renovatus, Gdańsk 1636 Epigrammata liber I, Leiden 1643 Olivetum Libri three, Florence 1646 Lyric Sonette (Lissaer Sonette), Lissa 1637 Son- und Feyrtags-Sonette, Leiden 1639 Sonette Das erste Buch, Leiden 1643 Oden Das erste Buch, Leiden 1643 Epigrammata. Das erste Buch, Leiden 1643 Gedanken über den Kirchhof und Ruhestätte der Verstorbenen, Wrocław 1657 Tragedies Ein Fürsten-Mörderisches Trawer-Spiel / genant. Leo Armenius, Frankfurt am