imself as
_Privat-docent_. Shortly before his removal thither his wife died (30th of
July 1784), and on the 29th of June in the next year he married his
sister-in-law "Molly." Her death on the 9th of January 1786 affected him
deeply. He appeared to lose at once all courage and all bodily and mental
vigour. He still continued to teach in Goettingen; at the jubilee of the
foundation of the university in 1787 he was made an honorary doctor of
philosophy, and in 1789 was appointed extraordinary professor in that
faculty, though without a stipend. In the following year he married a third
time, his wife being a certain Elise Hahn, who, enchanted with his poems,
had offered him her heart and hand. Only a few weeks of married life with
his "Schwabenmaedchen" sufficed to prove his mistake, and after two and a
half years he divorced her. Deeply wounded by Schiller's criticism, in the
14th and 15th part of the _Allgemeine Literaturzeitung_ of 1791, of the 2nd
edition of his poems, disappointed, wrecked in fortune and health, Buerger
eked out a precarious existence as a teacher in Goettingen until his death
there on the 8th of June 1794.

Buerger's character, in spite of his utter want of moral balance, was not
lacking in noble and lovable qualities. He was honest in purpose, generous
to a fault, tender-hearted and modest. His talent for popular poetry was
very considerable, and his ballads are among the finest in the German
language. Besides _Lenore, Das Lied vom braven Manne, Die Kuh, Der Kaiser
und der Abt_ and _Der wilde Jaeger_ are famous. Among his purely lyrical
poems, but few have earned a lasting reputation; but mention may be made of
_Das Bluemchen Wunderhold, Lied an den lieben Mond_, and a few love songs.
His sonnets, particularly the elegies, are of great beauty.

Editions of Buerger's _Samtliche Schriften_ appeared at Goettingen, 1817
(incomplete); 1829-1833 (8 vols.), and 1835 (one vol.); also a selection by
E. Grisebach (5th ed., 1894). The _Gedichte_ have been published in
innumerable editions, the best being that by A. Sauer (2 vols., 1884).
_Briefe von und an Burger_ were edited by A. Strodtmann in 4 vols. (1874).
On Buerger's life see the biography by H. Prohle (1856), the introduction to
Sauer's edition of the poems, and W. von Wurzbach, _G.A. Burger_ (1900).

BURGERS, THOMAS FRANCOIS (1834-1881), president of the Transvaal Republic,
was born in Cape Colony on the 15th of April 1834, and was educated at
Utrech