Martin Rinckhart, in 1636, wrote the "Chorus of God's faithful children" ("Nun danket alle Gott"--"Now thank we all our God"), introduced by Mendelssohn in his "Lobgesang," which has been called the "Te Deum" of Germany, being usually sung on occasions of public thanksgiving. Weissel, in 1635, composed a beautiful Advent hymn ("Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates"), and J. M. Meyfart, professor of theology at Erfurt, in 1642, a fine adaptation of the ancient "Urbs beata Hierusalem." The hymn of trust in Providence by George Neumark, librarian to that duke of Weimar ("Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten"--"Leave God to order all thy ways"), is scarcely, if at all, inferior to that of Paul Gerhardt on the same theme. Paul Flemming, a great traveller and lover of nature, who died in 1639, also wrote excellent compositions, coloured by the same tone of feeling; and some, of great merit, were composed, soon after the close of the war, by Louisa Henrietta, electress of Brandenburg, granddaughter of the famous admiral Coligny, and mother of the first king of Prussia. With these may be classed (though of later date) a few striking hymns of faith and prayer under mental anxiety, by Anton Ulrich, duke of Brunswick. Rist. Dach. The most copious, and in their day most esteemed, hymn-writers of the first half of the 17th century, were Johann Heermann and Johann Rist. Heermann, a pastor in Silesia, the theatre (in a peculiar degree) of war and persecution, experienced in his own person a very large share of the miseries of the time, and several times narrowly escaped a violent death. His _Devoti musica cordis_, published in 1630, reflects the feelings natural under such circumstances. With a correct style and good versification, his tone is subjective, and the burden of his hymns is not praise, but prayer. Among his works (which enter largely into most German hymn-books), two of the best are the "Song of Tears" and the "Song of Comfort," translated by Miss Winkworth in her _Christian Singers of Germany_. Rist published about 600 hymns, "pressed out of him," as he said, "by the cross." He was a pastor, and son of a pastor, in Holstein, and lived after the peace to enjoy many years of prosperity, being appointed poet-laureate to the emperor and finally ennobled. The bulk of his hymns, like those of other copious writers, are of inferior quality; but some, particularly those for Advent, Epiphany, Easter Eve and on Angels, are very good. They are more objective than those of Heermann, and written, upon the whole, in a more manly spirit. Next to Heermann and Rist in fertility of production, and above them in poetical genius, was Simon Dach, professor of poetry at Königsberg, who died in 1659. Miss Winkworth ranks him high among German poets, "for the sweetness of form and depth of tender contemplative emotion to be found in his verses." Gerhardt. Franck. Scheffler.