No testimony to his merit could be higher than that of Goethe, the prince of German critics in literature. It may be of value, however, in addition to this, to give the opinion of two very different men respecting Sachs. Dr. Hagenbach in his "History of the Reformation" says: "A happy union of wholesome humor and moral purity meets us in Hans Sachs of Nuremberg;" and Thomas Carlyle, in his own style, which happily is "inimitable," speaks of him as a "gay, childlike, devout, solid character--a man neither to be despised nor patronized, but left standing on his own basis as a singular product, and legible symbol, and clear mirror of the time and country where he lived." He died on the 25th of January, 1576, at the age of eighty-two, in full mental vigor. He was busy writing verses and tales almost to the last days of his life. His grave is still shown in the churchyard of St. John's, Nuremberg. JACOB BOEHMEN, THE MYSTIC. Jacob Boehmen, or Boehme, was born at the village of Altseidenberg, near Gorlitz, in Prussian Silesia, about a year before the death of Hans Sachs. A shoemaker for the greater part of his life, Boehmen devoted the powers of a remarkable mind to philosophical and religious speculation, and produced works which, notwithstanding their mystical and well-nigh unintelligible character, are declared by some of the best authorities in Germany and England to have laid the foundation of metaphysics and philosophy. It is impossible to give a true idea of the writings of this extraordinary man except by a complete review of his philosophy and its influence on German philosophical writers. The most contradictory opinions have been expressed in regard to the value of his productions. By some critics he is set down as a rhapsodist who wrote nothing but mystical jargon, and by others as a profound philosopher whose thoughts and dreams are full of inspiration. Mosheim, _e.g._, says: "It is impossible to find greater obscurity than there is in these pitiable writings, which exhibit an incongruous mixture of chemical terms, mystical jargon, and absurd visions." On the other hand, it is curious to read the opinions expressed by our own King Charles I., who of all the Stuarts, not excepting his own father, James I., that "so learned and judicious a prince," was most capable of being a judge in such matters. Charles is reported to have said of the writings of the shoemaker of Gorlitz: "Had they been the productions of a scholar and a man of learning, they would have been truly wonderful; but if, as he heard, they were the productions of a poor shoemaker, they furnished a proof that the Holy Ghost had still a habitation in the souls of men."