[144]Dach was however the most gifted of the group, [He was professor of poetry in the university of Königsberg, and also composed chorales] and ranks high among German poets for the sweetness of form and depth of tender contemplative emotion to be found in his verse. A little love-song of his, written when courting the daughter of a neigbbouring clergyman, has become one of the best known of the German popular songs, and is familiar to English readers in Mr. Longfellow's version of "Annie of Tharau."

Of his [145]hymns, many of which are to be found in all German hymn-books, we give the following, written during the long and painful illness which preceded his death: --