Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder

Returning to Königsberg he became a tutor in a private family; but, falling in love with a young lady of high position, his ambition was aroused, and giving up his tutorship he devoted himself with enthusiasm to legal studies.

Cautiousness and ardent passion, dry pedantry and piety, morality and sensuality; simplicity and ostentation composed his nature and, hence, his literary productions never attained artistic finish.

Kreuz- and Querzüge des Ritters A bis Z (1793–94) is a satire levelled against the follies of the age: ancestral pride and the thirst for orders, decoration and the like.

According to Jane Kneller, Hippel's "central claim" in this essay is that "excluding women from the public square is a travesty of justice that prevents the advancement of humanity toward genuine civilization.

[3] Hippel was once called the fore-runner of Jean Paul, and had some resemblance to this author, in his constant digressions and in the interweaving of scientific matter in his narrative.