duties of his situation. Only in very few instances he obtained or would accept relief or assistance from others. His 80th birthday was celebrated on the 26th of September, 1809. It was a day of great solemnity, not only to him and his family, but to the whole town. For such was the veneration and love which every inhabitant entertained for him, that young and old, rich and poor, were animated with feelings of joy and gratitude on this occasion, and were eager to express them by their congratulations. The Corporation of the town, the senate of the university, and other public bodies waited upon him to offer their sentiments of regard and good wishes. Besides this, many private individuals, even such as were not personally known to him, gave him proofs of the sincere interest they took in his happiness and welfare. Every one hoped that he would live to celebrate the 50 years' jubilee of his professorship at Gottingen, which would have taken place on March 24, 1813 but such was not the will of Providence. In human judgment there existed a probability that this event might happen: for his age showed no symptoms of decay. His faculties remained perfect, even to his eyesight, which never required the assistance of spectacles. This may to some appear wonderful, when it is considered how much those eyes had been used: but I have observed, that it is not the intense and uninterrupted use of the eyes, provided that intenseness is not carried to an excess, so as to strain and derange the nerves, which impairs vision; on the contrary, that the constant and regular exercise of its organs strengthens and preserves their power. For it will be found, that sight does not remain vigorous in proportion as it is little exerted; and that persons, who have not so much occasion to use their eyes as literary men, for instance husbandmen, laborers, mechanics, and tradesmen, do not keep it better. I have known several great scholars, who could in a very advanced age dispense with the aid of glasses. In his body he perceived no signs of a change or decline, except perhaps in one particular, that he could not easily obtain warmth, and was chilly, so as to require the comfort of a fire, even in a season of the year when it is generally considered as superfluous. He felt a particular anxiety for the preservation of his mental faculties; and spoke of nothing with so much dread as the possibility of having them wasted or destroyed. But no deterioration of them was perceptible in him even his memory, the decline of which commonly marks the progress of age, failed him but very little. The new part of the library was finished; and in March 1812 the books, which were to fill the great historical saloon, that which had been added to the library from the church, were placed in order. When every thing was arranged, Heyne availed himself of the first opportunity, which the state of the weather afforded, to visit the library. He VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. C

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lived at no great distance, but nearly opposite; and having gone over, he spent there a whole afternoon, surveying and examining every thing with the most lively interest. He returned to his house in cheerful spirits, and was observed that evening to be uncommonly serene and calm, as if contented and happy in his reflections on the past, and his prospects of the future. That was, however, his last visit to the library. In the beginning of April 1812 he finished the 6th volume of his Opuscula, which was to close his literary career. As if aware of this circumstance, he was, when the volume was published and before him, apparently under some emotion, looking upon this as his last production, with a tender and melancholy feeling, accompanied by the happy consciousness of having thus brought an honorable, laborious, and useful life to its termination. He rejoiced inwardly at the continued welfare and prosperity of Gottingen, to which he had devoted his unwearied exertions. The hope, which he might reasonably entertain, that the welfare of the university would, even under the adverse political circumstances which existed, not suffer or decline, cheered and animated him. The Opuscula might be regarded as a collection of documents, showing to future generations what Gottingen, in his time, had been. All these thoughts, associated on this occasion, were well calculated to produce those sensations in the breast of Heyne, which his friends that were near him thought they remarked. Indeed he expressed his sensibility in conversation with his dearest and most intimate connexions. Soon after this, on the 31st of May 1812, he suffered a slight attack of the palsy. His memory was, for a short time, affected; but he soon recovered: and the next day he was again able to attend his lectures. It was, however, an awful warning that he had received; and both himself and his family were persuaded that a return might happen, and terminate his existence. He himself seemed, with cheerfulness and comfort, to prepare for the great journey, on which he might unexpectedly be summoned to enter. He spoke of his concerns with those about him, and gave his instructions respecting all matters which were to be settled after his death; all his papers and accounts were put in order. But he was subsequently so well for some weeks, that the alarms of his friends much subsided. His wife was even prevailed on to go to a bathing place, 10 miles distant from Gottingen, on account of her own health, leaving him in the care of his two unmarried daughters, from whom he was sure of experiencing the most affectionate attention. On the 11th July he attended a meeting of the Society of Sciences: this was on a Saturday, and the last time that he quitted his house.

On the Monday following he came to his lecture room, to preside at the exercises of the Seminarists. This also was the last time that he appeared there. The afternoon and evening of

that day were, for the most part, employed in writing letters. He had sealed all but one, addressed to a learned professor at Copenhagen, which Mr. Heeren found open, but finished. At supper, where the eldest of his two daughters was present, he was cheerful; and went to bed at the usual hour. The next morning (July 14, 1812) he rose early, at 5 o'clock, as was always his custom. The maid-servant, who waited on him, found him well and in good spirits and went to make his coffee for him, which he was in the habit of taking soon after rising. When she returned with it, which was not a quarter of an hour after, she beheld him sunk down on the ground, and apparently lifeless. He lay on the floor, by the stand of the wash hand-bason; for in the act of washing his hands, death had come upon him. The hands were wet; he breathed once more, and life ceased. Medical assistance, which was sent for, was ineffectual: a vein was opened, but no blood followed. Thus expired this good and virtuous man! His death was a gentle passage from this world to a better, unattended with any pain or struggle, but such as those who have performed their moral and religious duties in this life, and are in a constant state of preparation for the life to come, would wish to receive. The sorrow and regret which the tidings of this event spread through the town, and among all who knew Heyne, may be estimated from the affection and esteem which he enjoyed among his contemporaries. And, in truth, there was good cause to lament the loss of such a man: for scarcely ever was there a life in a private station, more useful, more active, more devoted to duty, and the interests of his fellow creatures. His funeral bore testimony to the sentiments that were entertained. It took place on the 17th of July 1812. The corpse was early in the morning conveyed to the public library, from whence the funeral procession was to begin. Those who were to attend assembled there soon after 7. Ju the great room of the library stood a table, covered with black cloth: upon it lay three cushions, made of white satiu, and adorned with gold lace; upon the cushion in the middle was laid the order of knighthood, with which he had been invested, together with a garland of oak leaves, as the emblem of civic merit; upon the others were placed his Virgil and his Homer, with wreaths of laurel. The whole body of the students was assembled in a neighbouring place, ready to accompany the procession. It began to move at 8 o'clock. The hearse was preceded by a band of music, and surrounded by the chief mourners and pall-bearers. Immediately after it followed the persons who bore the cushions. The middle one, on which the order of knighthood was laid, was supported by a young nobleman of high rank, the two others were carried by professors Tychsen and Mitscherlich, two distinguished pupils of the deceased. Then followed the Westphalian Prefect of the

department in which Gottingen was situated, and the Prorector or Vice-Chancellor of the university: next the near relations of the deceased; after them the professors, the clergy, the corporation, and other public bodies, many private individuals, both natives and strangers; then the members of the philological seminary, the particular pupils of the deceased; after whom followed the whole mass of the students; and the procession was closed by a great number of the townspeople, who paid this last tribute of respect to the remains of one, whom they had good reason to deplore as their friend and benefactor. The persons who attended the funeral are estimated at 600 or 700. It proceeded by the house of the deceased, through the principal street of the town, which led to the burying ground of his parish. This is situated on the outside of the town; as it is now the practice, in many parts of Germany, not to inter the dead in the midst of the living, but at some short distance from their dwellings. Some friendly hands had strewed his grave with flowers. I mention these circumstances, as they mark the love and veneration which were generally felt for this excellent man, not more honorable to him than creditable to those who had the virtue and good sense to bestow them. His body was thus committed to the earth, while his memory will long survive. I visited the grave of my revered master, two years after his death; and renewed the recollection of what he had been to me, and to all who were so fortunate as to enjoy his instruction. The spot is marked with a simple tombstone, merely recording his name: it would have been needless to add any thing, which the mind of almost every beholder could supply. For who are those that are not acquainted with his merits, or ignorant of his virtues! The procession returned, in the same order, to the library; and the solemnity was completed by some addresses, either spoken or written, suited to the various circumstances of the occasion. It fell to the lot of Mr. Heeren to pronounce the eulogy on the deceased in the Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingen, as is the practice in the learned societies on the continent and he acquitted himself of this melancholy task, at its sittings on the 24th of October 1812. The Eulogy, written in Latin, is printed, with the title, Memoria Chr. Gotlob Heynii, commendata in consessu Reg. Soc. Scient. ad d. 24 Oct. 1812. ab A. H. L. Heeren. It has been quoted in the beginning of this communication. Mr. Heeren adds a circumstance, which I am not disposed to omit. Heyne had always retained an affectionate attachment to his native place, which the recollection of the hardships he had there endured did not diminish. The school, in particular, where he first received classical instruction, imperfect as it was, had kept a hold on his gratitude; aud he had presented to it all

the works he had published. It seems, that since his time that institution had been improved. His sentiments of kindness both towards the school, and the town of Chemnitz, were gratefully returned; and the inhabitants regarded Heyne as an ornament, of which they had cause to be proud. When the news of his death arrived, a meeting of the principal inhabitants took place in the great school-room; and his memory was celebrated with decorous and affecting solemnity. Among the persons present was an old man, a weaver by trade, who had been a school-fellow of Heyne, and lived in the same suburb with him. Many people went, as it were on a pilgrimage, to the house in which Heyne was born.

Such is the historical information which I had to communicate concerning the life of Heyne. It still remains to add a few remarks before this account is concluded. In his person, Heyne was of sinall stature, under the middle size; his body was light and active, so as not to impede the quickness and energy of the mind which animated it, though he had never had the advantage of forming and fashioning it, which those may have in their youth who are born in more fortunate circumstances. His countenance was lively and animated: it had nothing, indeed, to recommend it, on the score of beauty; but it was expressive, especially when he spoke, of that energetic soul which belonged to him. He was short-sighted, and his eyes had something of a cast. From the studious and secluded life he had always led, which had not allowed him to cultivate much the habits and graces of a man of the world, his address and manners appeared, at first view, rather awkward; but this was immediately forgotten, in conversation. His discourse was modest and unassuming, never bearing down those who were beneath him in intelligence and talent: on the contrary, he was affable and gentle, though quick and full of vivacity.

His moral character may be briefly comprehended in these words; that he was a truly good and virtuous man. His piety and charity, and his conduct in all the relations of life, were without reproach and impeachment. There could not be a better husband, a more affectionate father, or kinder friend. No man could be more conscientious, zealous, and active in the discharge of the duties of his situation: none could venture to enter in competition with him: for who could equal his abilities, or be like him in energy and industry? How multifarious the labors were, which he had, in part, undertaken from choice, has been seen in the foregoing pages. It is a fact, though I am far from intending to speak of it as depreciating or lowering the merits of others, that the duties which he alone performed at Gottingen, are now divided among eight or nine persons, who, I am sure, will themselves not be prepared to say that they are discharged better than in his time. It is difficult to conceive