A German writer, born in Magdeburg, lived chiefly at Aarau, in Aargau, Switzerland, where he spent forty years of his life, part of them in the service of his adopted country, and where he died; wrote histories, and a series of tales, but is best known by his "Stunden der Andacht" (i. e. hours of devotion), on ethico-rationalistic lines (1771-1845).