“ After studying law at Jena he entered the Danish military service and took part in the Russian campaign of 1762. He spent the next twelve years in Copenhagen, where he was intimate with Klopstock. From 1775 to 1783 he represented Denmark’s interests as “Danish Resident” at Lübeck, and in 1786 received a judicial appointment at Altona, where he died on the 1st of November 1823. In the course of his long life Gerstenberg passed through many phases of his nation’s literature. ”