Kleist
HEINRICH VON, a German dramatist; born in Frankfort-onthe-Oder, Oct. 18, 1777. At first he followed the family profession and entered the army; but left it in 1799 for literature. His best plays, such as "The Prince of Homburg" and "The Broken Pitcher" possess sufficient vigor and fidelity to life to make them popular even at the present day. The best of his tales is "Michael Kohlhaas," a story of Brandenburg in the Middle Ages. He shot himself, after first shooting a woman whom he loved, and who like him was weary of life, on the bank of Lake Wan near Potsdam, Nov. 21, 1811. His works did not gain recognition till after his death.
KLEPHTS (klefts), properly "robbers," the name formerly given to those Greeks who kept themselves free from the Turkish yoke in the mountains, and carried on a pepetual war against the oppressors of their country.