Johann Diederich Gries

After his elder brother Ludwig had intervened with their father on his behalf he was permitted to embark on a period of study in Law, enrolling at the University of Jena in October 1795.

[3] At Jena his naturally affability, his abundance of inoffensive humour and his exceptional talent as a piano player all combined to gain him ready access to the homes and social circles of the professors.

[4] In April 1799, after seven or eight terms, a faced serious warnings from his father about his perceived failure to engage seriously in his legal studies, and was obliged, with a heavy heart, to leave Jena.

During the next three and a half decades he continued to take frequent lengthy trips, socialising with the luminaries of the age, and supporting himself - at times barely - through his own writing and through translation into German of (primarily) Italian and Spanish language literature,[6] returning to his beloved Jena every few years.

He based himself with Johann Heinrich Voss in Heidelberg between 1806 and 1808, during which time his circle included Clemens Brentano, Josephvon Eichendorff and Wolf von Baudissin.

However, in 1837 his youngest brother, Franz and his energetic wife took him into their Hamburg home, where Diederich was able to complete his translation of "Bojardos Verliebter Roland".

[3] His death in February 1842 came after several years of debilitating illness, but he was spared from the traumatic experience of the great fire which destroyed much of Hamburg three months later.