cipal duty is that of precentor-whence the name. An once in the Lutheran Church, of which the prin- vanity, pride, and highmindedness might slum ag, of JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER. Born 1744. Died 1803. THIS honored name, than which Germany has few more prized, represents a wide range of intellect, and covers a large space in the national literature. Herder is a literature in himself, including theology, philosophy, history, criticism, poetry; all the various departments of literary effort, and approved in all. He surpasses all his contemporaries in breadth, and most of them in depth. Such union of breadth and depth has seldom been seen. To him may be ascribed the epithet "myriad-minded." He towers above the ordinary level of humanity, not, like most great men, in a single peak, but with a many-headed elevation; a vast mountain-range whose highest summits mingle with the skies; whose sunny slopes are covered with luxurious vegetation; whose secret valleys are haunted by the Muse of Romance, and beneath whose surface are mines of gold. Had Herder possessed the element of form in any degree proportioned to the sumless wealth of his intellect and his all-sided culture, he would have been the first poet, not of Germany only, but of his age, of any age. There lay his defect. He was no artist. Like king David, he collected materials from the ends of the earth, but it was not given to him to rear a temple therewith. With all his voluminousness he has left no perfect work. Even his Ideas toward a philosophy of the history of Humanity" is fragmentary, as the name imports. Herder was born at Mohrungen in East Prussia, where his father was Cantor of the church and usher in a female seminary. His early education was better adapted to make him a good man than a brilliant scholar, being confined to the reading of the bible and the hymn-book. Other books, which his thirst for knowledge constrained him to seek, he was obliged to read by stealth; and it is related that he used to climb a tree and lash himself with a leathern strap to one of the branches for this purpose. An office in the Lutheran Church, of which the principal duty is that of precentor-whence the name. He learned to write, and the beauty of his chirography procured him a patron in Trescho, a clergyman who employed him as amanuensis, and permitted him to share the instruction of his sons in the Latin and Greek languages. The intense application with which he devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge brought on a disease of the eyes, from which he never entirely recovered. A Russian surgeon who had afforded him temporary relief, and who was then a visiter in the house of Trescho, persuaded him to study surgery in St. Petersburg, and offered not only to pay his expenses thither, but to give him gratuitous instruction. But at Königsberg, on their way, Herder was so overcome by the sight of a dissection which he witnessed, that he abandoned this project, and turned his attention to theology. He remained in Königsberg for this purpose, supporting himself, as a private instructor, while pursuing his studies at the university. He there formed an acquaintance with Hamann and with Kant. In 1765, he was appointed teacher and preacher at the Cathedral school at Riga, where he kindled the enthusiastic devotion of his hearers and pupils by his word and his writings. For here commenced his career as an author. In 1768, he declined a call to St. Petersburg as inspector of the St. Peter's school in that city, and accepted the office of travelling chaplain to the prince of Holstein-Eutin. In this capacity he travelled through Germany as far as Strassburg, where he was induced to resign his office on account of his eyes, which began to trouble him again, and to undergo an operation which detained him for a long while in that city. Here he became acquainted with Goethe, who was then a student of Law at Strassburg. Goethe attributes great value to this acquaintance in his auto-biography, and makes much of Herder's influence on his mind and character at that forming period of his life. "I might count myself fortunate," he says, "that by an unexpected acquaintance, whatever of self-complacency, of self-mirroring, of vanity, pride, and highmindedness might slum JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER. Born 1744. Died 1803. THIS honored name, than which Germany has few more prized, represents a wide range of intellect, and covers a large space in the national literature. Herder is a literature in himself, including theology, philosophy, history, criticism, poetry; all the various departments of literary effort, and approved in all. He surpasses all his contemporaries in breadth, and most of them in depth. Such union of breadth and depth has seldom been seen. To him may be ascribed the epithet "myriad-minded." He towers above the ordinary level of humanity, not, like most great men, in a single peak, but with a many-headed elevation; a vast mountain-range whose highest summits mingle with the skies; whose sunny slopes are covered with luxurious vegetation; whose secret valleys are haunted by the Muse of Romance, and beneath whose surface are mines of gold. Had Herder possessed the element of form in any degree proportioned to the sumless wealth of his intellect and his all-sided culture, he would have been the first poet, not of Germany only, but of his age, of any age. There lay his defect. He was no artist. Like king David, he collected materials from the ends of the earth, but it was not given to him to rear a temple therewith. With all his voluminousness he has left no perfect work. Even his "Ideas toward a philosophy of the history of Humanity" is fragmentary, as the name imports. He learned to write, and the beauty of his chirography procured him a patron in Trescho, a clergyman who employed him as amanuensis, and permitted him to share the instruction of his sons in the Latin and Greek languages. The intense application with which he devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge brought on a disease of the eyes, from which he never entirely recovered. A Russian surgeon who had afforded him temporary relief, and who was then a visiter in the house of Trescho, persuaded him to study surgery in St. Petersburg, and offered not only to pay his expenses thither, but to give him gratuitous instruction. But at Königsberg, on their way, Herder was so overcome by the sight of a dissection which he witnessed, that he abandoned this project, and turned his attention to theology. He remained in Königsberg for this purpose, supporting himself, as a private instructor, while pursuing his studies at the university. He there formed an acquaintance with Hamann and with Kant. In 1765, he was appointed teacher and preacher at the Cathedral school at Riga, where he kindled the enthusiastic devotion of his hearers and pupils by his word and his writings. For here commenced his career as an author. In 1768, he declined a call to St. Petersburg as inspector of the St. Peter's school in that city, and accepted the office of travelling chaplain to the prince of Holstein-Eutin. In this capacity he travelled through Germany as far as Strassburg, where he was induced to resign his office on account of his eyes, which began to trouble him again, and to undergo an operation which detained him for a long while in that city. Here he became acquainted with Goethe, who was then a student of Law at Strassburg. Goethe attributes great value to this acquaintance in his auto-biography, and makes much of Herder's influence on his mind and character at that forming period of his life. "I might count myself fortunate," he says, this purpose. "that by an unexpected acquaintance, whatever of self-complacency, of self-mirroring, of An office in the Lutheran Church, of which the prin- vanity, pride, and highmindedness might slum Herder was born at Mohrungen in East Prussia, where his father was Cantor of the church and usher in a female seminary. His early education was better adapted to make him a good man than a brilliant scholar, being confined to the reading of the bible and the hymn-book. Other books, which his thirst for knowledge constrained him to seek, he was obliged to read by stealth; and it is related that he used to climb a tree and lash himself with a leathern strap to one of the branches for cipal duty is that of precentor-whence the name. |