Scherr

Scherr, JOHANNES, historian, novelist, and writer of humorous prose and verse, was born 3d October 1817, at Rechberg in Swabia, studied at Zurich and Tübingen, and became a schoolmaster at Stuttgart. In 1844 he came to be known in act and writing as a strong democrat, and in 1848 was a member of the Württemberg diet. In 1849 he fled to Switzerland, where in 1860 he obtained a post as lecturer in the Zurich Polytechnic. He died 21st November 1886. He wrote a universal history of literature, and histories of religion, of English literature, of German manners and customs, a whole series of romances and novels, and various miscellaneous works in prose and verse. He was vehement and one-sided in polemics; and his lively wit and caustic humour, though they give vivacity to a very characteristic and original style, are extravagant and overstrained.