In

how he was able to perform so much, and in a maimer so satisfactory to the public, and creditable to himself. The answer to this question must be looked for in the qualities which were peculiar to him: he was quick, active, persevering, zealous, and possessed of method. He never had a secretary, or amanuensis, but wrote every thing with his own hand; though such an assistance to a man occupied as he was, and who had to transact so much business in writing, would have been a great relief. His correspondence, both official and learned, was most extensive; and it is calculated that he sent above a thousand letters, in the course of the year, to the post. this are not included the notes he had to write every day to different persons residing at Gottingen. If his literary compositions are added, it is really surprising how his pen could achieve so much. But he understood how to make the best use of his time: he valued it as his most precious possession, and employed it to the greatest advantage, and with the best judgment. No hours were wasted in indolence. To the day of his death, he rose every morning at five: and after taking one dish of coffee, seated himself at his table. The first hours of the morning were devoted to literary occupations. In summer he had a lecture in the library at 8. At 9 he usually took some light refreshment, such as a bason of broth, which might be called his breakfast. After this he was engaged for about an hour and a half with the concerns of the library, and was frequently attended by one of the under-librarians. If any moment was spared from this employment, it was bestowed on literary subjects. At 11, as we have stated, he had a lecture, for which he prepared himself a few minutes before. At 12 he dined; and then for the first time appeared in the midst of his family. He remained with them perhaps an hour, and then retired to his study, where he usually indulged in half an hour's sleep. At half past 1 he had to prepare himself for the lecture which he had to give at 2. The hours from 3 to 5 were commonly devoted to his correspondence. In his correspondence, great as it was, he was so punctual and accurate, that I almost will venture to assert, that in his whole life he never left a letter unanswered. But he was not even guilty of procrastination; for the utmost term which, I believe, he allowed himself for protracting the reply to any letter, was a week. I know this both from the testimony of others, and from my personal experience: for I have had many a letter from his hand. At five he had another lecture at 6 he joined his family, for about a quarter of an hour, took a dish of tea. He then returned to his study, and was engaged there till after 8. That was his supper time, and he frequently remained an hour or upwards at table with his family, especially when a friend was present. After supper the business of the study was resumed, and continued till about half past 10, when he went to

and

bed. But sometimes, when he had much to do, he staid up longer. Such was the usual employment of his time, and the division of his labor. Though he adhered to order and method, he did not pedantically tie himself down to the arrangement which he had made, and did not hesitate to depart from it, in altering the succession of his occupations, when circumstances required. He respected the rule, but submitted to exceptions. A life so employed, for a long series of years, could not fail to be useful, and was capable of accomplishing what, with other habits, would have been impossible. Of his fame and celebrity I have already spoken: it was that chiefly which brought him into so extensive a correspondence with the learned world. Among his correspondents in England was that good and excellent man, JACOB BRYANT. Him I mention with a particular interest and feeling. When I came in early life to England, I. brought him a letter from Heyne, in which the latter had recommended me to his notice. This was in the year 1794 : the recommendation was most kindly attended to, and I received from that venerable man the most gratifying marks of kindness. Our acquaintance soon grew into friendship, which I had the happiness of enjoying to the day of his death. It is among my most pleasing recollections, to have been honored by the regard of one of the best and most estimable men, which this or any other country has produced. I do not speak of his learning; for in that none of his contemporaries excelled him; but his memory is dear to all that knew him for the great and amiable virtues he possessed.

I must not omit to mention one of Heyne's qualities, which to a man of business was most important. He could bear interruptions without being in the least put out of the train of his thoughts or occupations. Many persons had to call on him on business, and many strangers came to see him. He received them in a room, adjoining to his study; but though he might be called away twenty times in a morning, the moment he sat down again at his writing table, all interruption was forgotten, the thread of his occupation was immediately taken up where he had left it, and his work proceeded as if nothing had occurred. Nor did the intenseness of his application follow him out of his study; he could divest himself instantaneously, as he rose to meet a person who wanted to speak to him, from the thoughts and meditations in which he had been engaged, and come fresh to the business or conversation that awaited him. There was never any absence of mind or distraction to be observed about him. He was a man altogether endowed by nature with extraordinary abilities, whether his talents for literature are considered, or his qualifications for business. He was himself inclined to think, that his strength lay chiefly in the last. To his talents he was himself not the person that did most justice; much less was he vain, or proud

of them. There is an anecdote of him recorded by Mr. Heeren, which deserves to be repeated. Mrs. Heyne was one day, it was April 1, 1808, reading to him a passage from a celebrated German author, Mr. Lichtenberg, in which the latter, in speaking of the great Tobias Mayer, observes, that this man had himself not been aware how much he knew; and adds, that in this manner, without being conscious of merit, or without being conceited, a man would most easily attain to eminence. Heyne was struck with the truth of this observation, and said it was applicable to himself. He had, he continued, after he came to Gottingen never suspected that he possessed any particular abilities, but considered himself at best as on a par with ordinary men. He only felt an anxiety to do his utmost, in order not to disgrace the university; but he had a much higher opinion of the learning and genius of his colleagues than of his own. Accidentally an English Newspaper, (The Morning Post, of Thursday April 20, 1775,) fell into his hands, in which was an Extract of a letter from a gentleman at Gottingen to his friend at Cambridge. In this extract was the following passage: There are many of the present professors eminent in their several branches; Putter, Boemer, and Selchow in the Law; Schlozer in History; Kaestner is famed throughout Germany for Mathematics; and the reputation of Michaelis for his knowledge of the ancient languages is very great. A Mr. Heyne, to whom I was lately introduced, ought to be mentioned as the first genius in Gottingen. He teaches eloquence and the Greek and Roman antiquities. Without ascertaining who the person was that wrote this, and what is the value of his individual opinion, it shows what others, from whom the writer might have derived his information, thought of Heyne. The latter was much struck with the observation alluded to, which told him what he had never suspected before, that he was a man of genius. It had the effect of giving him more confidence in his own powers, and enabling him to calculate with less hesitation, what he was able to undertake and accomplish. He was too wise a man to be made vain or proud by praise; and though he had copied that paragraph from the English Newspaper, as a matter of curiosity and interest to himself, he never seems to have mentioned it to any one, excepting in a confidential moment to his wife, many years after the circumstance had occurred.

Heyne had, by his first wife, three children; one son, Charles, who was the eldest, and two daughters. The son, who was brought up as a physician, was in the service of the Emperor of Russia; and was employed as physician general to the Russian army. He died in the year 1794, in the Russian campaign in Poland. The account of his death did not reach the father till nearly two years after, who was deeply afflicted by the intelligence. I saw Mr. Heyne in the

year 1796, and his grief for the loss was then still fresh. Of the daughters, the elder married the celebrated George Forster, who (with his father) accompanied Captain Cook in his voyage round the world: after Mr. Forster's death she became the wife of a Mr. Huber, who did not long survive. The second daughter married Professor Reuss of Gottingen. By the second marriage Heyne had six children, four daughters and two sons. The eldest of these daughters is married to Mr. Heeren.

I shall conclude this sketch with a brief enumeration of Heyne's principal publications.

1. Tibullus, in 3 editions.

2. Epictetus, 2 editions.

3. Virgil, 3 editions; besides the smaller editions, for the use of schools.

4. Apollodorus, 2 editions.

5. Pindar, 2 editions; besides a small one, containing merely the text, for the use of shools.

6. Homer.

7. About 50 Treatises, or Dissertations, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingen, written in Latin. 8. Opuscula Academica, 6 vols. 8vo.

9. German Translation, with notes, of Guthrie's and Grey's Universal History. 7 vols. 8vo.

10. Collection of antiquarian researches, written in German (Sammlung antiquarischer Aufsätze) 2 vols.

These are his principal works: some of his minor publications have been incidentally mentioned in the course of this chapter; among others, the great number of reviews which he contributed to the literary journal of Gottingen (Göttingische Gelehrt Anzeigen.) To the smaller productions belong, 1. Dactyliotheca universalis signorum exemplis nitidis reddita Chilias tertia. Expressit Ph. D. Leppert, stilum accommodavit C. G. H. Lipsia 1763. 2. Er C. Plinii Secundi historiâ naturali Excerpta, que ad artes spectant, ed. C. G. Heyne Gottinga 1790. Lib. xxxiv. 3. Ex C. Plinii Secundi historia naturali Excerpta. Lib. xxxv. de picturâ. Gott. 1811. 4. Cononis Narrationes Quinquaginta, et Parthenii Narrationes Amatoria. Conon ex edit. I. Kaune; Parthenius emendatus studio Luca Le grand, in lucem editus curante Ch. G. Heyne 1798.

It seems that one of the last works he planned was an account, or a history, of the university of Gottingen: for a few lines, written in German, on this subject, were found among his papers; but his occupations probably did not allow him to proceed with it. If he could have executed that design, such an account from him, who had been so active a member of the university, and so intimately acquainted with every thing relating to its history and constitution,

would have been of great value. The best information, which we now have of that celebrated establishment is by Ernest Brandes, entitled, "Account of the state of the University of Gottingen, (Beschreibung von dini Zustande der Universitdt Göttingen,) first published in the Hanoverian Magazine, in a succession of papers, and these afterwards (in the year 1802) collected into a volume. The well-known Meiners, who was for many years a professor at Gottingen, had begun to publish" Annals of the University," which, if continued, would have furnished an accurate history of that institution. But after the first volume, the design was abandoned by the author; whether from want of encouragement in the sale of the work, or from another cause, is not known.

ON THE SCIENCE

OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS.

PART VII.

I now proceed to consider some other parts of chemistry and physics, of which the Greeks had obtained some indistinct notions from their Egyptian and Oriental masters.

OF ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES.

It is generally supposed, that the ancients considered earth, air, fire, and water, as the primordial elements of the material world, and that they had no notion whatever that any of these can be capable of composition and decomposition. Our modern chemists, who teach us what are the relative proportions of the component gases which form air and water, consequently speak of their ancient predecessors, as of men who were utterly unacquainted with this department of physical science. I am far from presuming to say, that the sages of antiquity had anticipated the brilliant discoveries of the moderns, or that they could express their ideas by any such well-chosen words as oxygen-gas, azotic-gas, carbonicacid-gas, and all the rest of the family of gases; but I may be permitted to maintain, that it does not thence follow, that they