138 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 



Europe ! Eichhom^s lectures on the New Testament were re- 

 peated to him from notes by a student from Ratzeburg, a young 

 man of sounc'; learning and indefatigable industry. 



But his chief efforts were directed towards a grounded know- 

 ledge of the German language and literature. From professor 

 Tychsen he received as many lessons in the Gothic of Ulphilas 

 as sufficed to make him acquainted with its grammar, and the 

 radical words of most frequent occurrence ; and with the occa- 

 sional assistance of the same philosophical linguist, he read 

 through Ottfried's metrical paraphrase of the gospel, and the most 

 important remains of the Theotiscan, or the transitional state of 

 the Teutonic language from the Gothic to the old German of the 

 Swabian period. Of this period (the polislied dialect of which 

 is analogous to that of our Chaucer, and which leaves the philo- 

 sophic student in doubt whether the language has not since then lost 

 more in sweetness and flexibility, than it has gained in condensation 

 and copiousness) he read with sedulous accuracy the Minnes- 

 inger (or singers of love, the provenfal poets of the Swabian 

 court) and the metrical romances ; and then laboured through 

 sufficient specimens of the master singers, their degenerate suc- 

 cessors ; not however without occasional pleasure from the rude, 

 yet interesting strains of Hans Sachs, the cobbler of Nuremberg. 

 Of tliis man's genius five folio volumes with double columns are 

 extant in print, and nearly an equal number in manuscript ; yet 

 the indefatigable bard takes care to inform his readers, that he 

 never made a shoe the less, but had virtuously reared a large 

 family by the labor of his hands. 



On the 20th of September, 1798, he was introduced to the 

 brother of Klopstock, and to professor Ebeling, which he thus 

 mentions in "Satyrane*s Letters. " 



■*" I was introduced to Mr. Klopstock, the brother of the poet, 

 who again introduced me to the professor Ebeling, an intelligent 

 and lively man, though deaf: so deaf, indeed, that it was a pain- 

 ful effort to talk with him, as we were obliged to drop all our 

 pearls into a huge ear-trumpet. From this courteous and kind- 

 hearted man of letters, (I hope, the German literati in general 

 may resemble this first specimen) I heard a tolerable Italian pun, 

 and an interesting anecdote. When Buonaparte was in Italy, 

 having been irritated by some instance of perfidy, he said, in a 

 loud and vehement tone, in a public company — '* 'tis a true pro- 

 verb, gli Italiani tutti ladroni (\. e. the Italians all plunderers.) 

 A Lady had the couruge to reply, " Non tutti; ma buona 

 PARTE," (not all, but a good part, or Buonaparte.) This I con- 

 fess sounded to my ears, as one of the many good things that 

 7night have been said. The anecdote is more valuable; for it in- 

 stances the ways and means of French insinuation. 



From Professor Ebeling's, Mr. Klopstock accompanied my 

 friend and me to his own house, where I saw a fine bust of his 



* Satyrane's Letters, page, 217. 



