In 1759 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing answered a claim that nobody would deny that the German stage owed much of its first improvement to Professor Johann Christoph Gottsched. In the 17th of his Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend, dated 16 February 1759, he wrote: Ich bin dieser Niemand; ich leugne es gerade zu. I am this nobody. I deny it outright. Es wäre zu wünschen, daß sich Herr Gottsched niemals mit dem Theater vermengt hätte. It would be desirable if Mr. Gottsched had never got involved with the theater.