36 Annual Ueport. [Fe&. 



Paris, tlicu the ceutre of Oriental learning', where he studied under the 

 famous Sanskrit scholar Eugene Burnouf, and the great Chinese ischo- 

 lar Stanislas Julien. 



At that time to a younpf Sanskrit scholar a visit to England was 

 indispensible. A very small portion only of Sanskrit texts was then 

 available in print, but the libraries at London and Oxford contained 

 vast treasures of Sanskrit manusciipta. It was for this reason that, in 

 1846, Miiller decided to go to England. Here he was introduced to 

 liunseu, then the Prussian ambassador at London, and himself an 

 enthusiatic admirer of Oriental thought and literature. 



This event became decisive for his future career. It was through the 

 mediation of Bunseii that the Court of Directors of the East India Com- 

 j)any undertook to publish the edition of the Rg-Veda with the com- 

 mentary of Sayana, Avhich Miiller planned at that time, and for which 

 it would have been impossible to find a private publisher. Thiough 

 Bunsen also Miiller Avas introduced to influential circles of English 

 society and induced to settle finally in England. Here, at Oxford, he 

 was appointed Professor of Modern Languages at the Taylorian Institute 

 and elected a fellow of All Souls College. When in 1860 H. H. Wilson 

 died Miiller w-as not, however, on account of his liberal views in theo- 

 logical and religious matters, elected as liis successor to the Boden 

 Professorship, although by his eminent work done in the field of Sans- 

 krit studies he would have seemed to possess a strong claim to that post, 

 and it Avas only in J868 that he was appointed Professor of Comparative 

 Philoloo"y. When, after the Franco-German war, the German Govern- 

 ment reorganized the University at Strassburg, efforts were made to 

 bring Miiller back to his fatherland, and a professorship at the new 

 University was offered to him. He did not accept it, however, partly 

 in order to have more leisure for his literary work, and partly because 

 England had become a second home to hira from which he did not wish 

 to separate ; but he consented to deliver a coui^se of lectiires on Com- 

 i^arative Philology at the new University, and he granted a sum of 

 money, the interest of which was to be given yearly as a prize for an 

 essay on Vedic literature, the subject of which Avas to be determined 

 by the University of Strassburg. 



His distinguished career in England is too Avell known to be further 

 detailed. Here intimate friendship connected him with many eminent 

 men of his time. He had mastered the English language so thoroughly 

 that he Avas able, Avithin a fcAv years after his arrival in England, to under- 

 take for the first time an English trnnslation of Kant's Kritik der rcinen 

 Yeiuunft, a very difficult task, as Avill be understood by every one Avho 

 has tried to find his Avay through the Avritings of the great philosopher 



