porary scholars. He who has marked out for himself an extensive sphere, can no longer, after a certain age, be present with his mind, in every part; while his neighbour finds himself easily at home in every part of his contracted circle. But which one deserves the greater admiration? How often is it the case that a scholar remains far in advance of his contemporaries, merely because he has had the good luck, and the science in which he labours the ill luck, to have been kept aloof, for a long time, from all men of talents; and that frequently, during whole generations, a curse seems to rest upon science. Praise and censure on the point are to be dispensed with much care. Let it suffice, that Michaelis continued at the head of his contemporaries, in many other departments, until his death. Could this be expected of him in all?

In the midst of all the dislike which he manifested toward a great portion of the latest improvements in didactic theology, he continued always tolerant. For myself at least, I do not recollect, at present, in his writings, any violence of expression, any malicious side-long glances at the later theologians; but merely open-hearted disapprobation of their doctrinal system, couched in serious language, such as is wont to accompany a man of intellectual firmness. Decidedly devoted, as he believed, to the system of doctrines of the symbolical books of his church, it was nevertheless entirely contrary to his views, to repress or forbid discussions concerning their contents. He expressed himself, in the last years of his life, on this subject, by word of mouth, before many witnesses, in a most decided and emphatic manner.

With his system of morals, my acquaintance, drawn from detached expressions of his translation of the Bible, is much too slight to enable me to characterize it fully. According to these expressions, it was deeply tinged with a rigid scrupulousness undoubtedly a remnant of the over-strained piety of the school in which he was educated. He has left a work on this subject fully completed, which, according to his last will, is to appear in print before every other.

Michaelis thus embraced, in his capacious mind, many

departments, in a manner always peculiar and always eminent. In every one he communicated the tone for a long time, and in many, until his death. For this great superiority, he was indebted to the unceasing study of the sources of his sciences. He took no one at his word. He considered no investigations as closed, and regarded no magisterial assertions. Sometimes, indeed, this new labour was superfluous; but it was never entirely useless. The investigation received, at least, through him, a new direction; it became new to whatever point it was directed; and conducted to other subordinate points hitherto untouched. And if he sometimes neglected, (as was perhaps the fact,) to compare the labours of others, until his own investigations were brought to a close, still, no gap is left in his investigation, and no complaints can justly be indulged, of a proud disregard of earlier merit. He certainly availed himself willingly, in his researches, of the assistance and counsel of his friends at hand and at a distance. Every one also received credit for his own contribution, however trivial, as if it were a most important public concern; for every one found it again, with the mention of his name, in the writings of Michaelis.

Considering the striking peculiarity of his whole mind, the many new results with which his writings abounded, and his frequent opposition to prevailing notions, he could, in the ordinary course of events, scarcely count upon universal approbation. But what great man has not met with more opposition than applause from his contemporaries? A great and bold undertaking is not suited to the ordinary dimensions of human talents, and from this circumstance meets with opposition; but it does not follow from this that it should not meet with a merited reception from talents of the right grade.

He was less solicitous about the exterior decorations, than about the internal value of his works. His Latin style, during those years in which he was wont to polish with care, bore evident marks of a good knowledge of classical Latinity; and even in his later years, when old age enjoined a greater degree of haste, it still betrayed the good soil from which it sprang. With the improve

ment of our vernacular language, which took place during his years of manhood, his own German style was also improved; and there was a period of his life, in which he was ambitious of the honour of being numbered amongst the wits of Germany; after a while the serious sciences pleased him better, and thenceforth he aimed in his writings more at the excellencies of a conversational manner, than at elaborate ornament and conciseness. On this account, he was wont to entangle his discourse with participial connections, and to interlard it with French words, even where they contributed, in clearness or strength, nothing more than the equivalent German expressions. **As an author, he resembled a prudent and devoted father, who is attentive to the wants of his offspring, and rigidly endeavours to supply them wherever they are observed. He made, continually, alterations and improvements in his works, and substituted new translations for old ones. Those who were not aware, from their own experience, of the labyrinth through which the human understanding must wind its cheerless way, were ready to complain, in his frequent and various retractions, of a neglect of earlier examination, and of the consequences of a censurable haste; an injustice which ingenious and inquisitive scholars must too often put up with from their meaner contemporaries, who have no resources beyond the meagre inheritance received from their instructors. Pertinacity of opinion in a scholar is generally the consequence of his stationariness in the sciences, which is already half a relapse.

All these distinguished excellencies of Michaelis are known to the German public at large; his pupils alone are acquainted with others, equally rare, which placed him in the number of the most eminent university teachers. With the exception, perhaps, of a slight excess of wit, he was free from most of the faults which attach themselves to that station. He always came forward after a full and previous preparation of the matter, and left merely the words to be supplied on the occasion. Filled with his subject, he spoke with order, clearness, life, fire, sometimes with inspiration, always with that interest, him

As

self, in the subject, which awakens an interest in others even for the dryest communication. His preparation was always undertaken the day before. This afforded him time and opportunity for new investigations, much to the gain of his audience and the public; his style, however, lost that conciseness, which he would have given it, had he come forward immediately after his preparation. it was, he was under the necessity of combining the thoughts of the preceding day with those last conceived, which were not very closely connected with the former; this frequently led, indeed, to new windings and combinations, but the thread was necessarily lengthened. Not unfrequently he engaged before his audience in full investigations, whose results merely he might have presented; by which means, the nobler minds learnt, from an experienced master, the art of research. The others, whose aims were lower, were satisfied with the naked result. All his studies and investigations had a bearing upon his business as an instructor, and hence his course of instruction was eminently learned, and became afterwards the proper source of his writings. His communications were never designed for mere amusement, and on this account were the better adapted to form a future taste for individual cultivation of the sciences. All Germany is aware how great a number of learned men, in his and the kindred departments, proceeded from his school. His whole soul was alive to the interests of his best scholars, as long as they were under his immediate direction; he assisted them with advice and encouragement, to the extent of his power and opportunities. As soon as they displayed abilities and disposition for a speculative life, he assisted them diligently in obtaining those places, where they might rapidly unfold themselves; and to this end he regarded a distant place the best adapted, where they might turn to advantage the instruction received from him, better than when nearer to him. As soon as he saw them established, he left them to themselves, to establish their own fame, and gave his sole attention to his younger scholars, who were still beneath his eye. He designed that they should be indebted to themselves and their abi

lities, for the final establishment of their prosperity and reputation.

All this was accomplished by a single individual, for his scholars, for his contemporaries, and for posterity, by means of his high endowments and unwearied industry. He first aroused his own talents, and then awakened, developed and ennobled the endowments of others. He was the father and nurse, the fosterer and the patron of science, in a state of tender orphanage. Poor and needy, after receiving all the treasures which came to him by inheritance; and immensely rich in the fruits of his own labour, which descended, at his death, as an imperishable legacy, to posterity.

Such thou wast, revered instructor, and such, by thine own exertions, thou didst become; in the midst of all the obstacles of education, which thou didst successfully surmount; and all the difficulties of thy situation, which thou didst overcome; and all the follies of thy contemporaries, which thou didst bear with patience. Such were thy labours, although reviled from the commencement by thy ignorant contemporaries, and frequently persecuted and attacked by malicious envy and bitter malice; unappreciated in thy life-time by many of thy contemporaries, and now in death-unrequited. Unconcerned about the arts of thine enemies, the designs of thine enviers, and the malice of the ignorant; known and respected by kings, prized by their ministers, and admired by Europe; thou didst pursue thine untrodden way, for the enlargement of the kingdom of truth and of science, and didst bear, with thine own name, the name of Georgia Augusta far beyond the limits of Germany, into every civilized land of Europe.

And now thou reposest, with all thine admirable endowments, where the ashes of common men repose. But thou shalt not be forgotten. Thine image remains deeply imprinted on the heart of Georgia Augusta, and time will carry thy name down through the endless lapse of succeeding generations.