2 
until 1721, when, on his father’s 
death, he was removed to the public 
{chool at Berne. He was placed in 
a clafs far above his age; and ufa- 
ally wrote in Greek the exercife, 
which he was expected to compofe 
in thé Latin tongue. 
In 1723, he obtained permiffion 
to accompany a young friend to 
Bienne, in order to be inftructed in 
philofophy by the father of his 
compaiion, who was a celebrated , 
phy‘fician. But his new preceptor 
being a bigot te the Cartefian 
{chool, Haller fooh rejeSted with 
difdain that logic and philofophy, 
which tended to cramp his genius 
rather than extend his knowledge ; 
and continued to cultivate hiftory; 
poetry, and polite literature, but 
with as little order and method as - 
might be expected from his years. 
Haller, during his refidence at 
Bienne; began a cuftom, which he 
afterwards followed through life, 
that of writing his opinion of the 
books which he perufed, and mak- 
ing large extracts froma them. His 
genius being alfo awakened by the 
romantic fcenery of the country to 
poetical enthufiam, he compofed 
various pieces in the epic, dramatic, 
and lyric ftyles. He was at this, 
time fo entirely abforbed in this 
favourite ftudy, that, on a_ fire 
breaking out in the houfe in which 
he refided, he rufhed into his apart- 
ment, and refcued his poetry from 
the flames, leaving his other papers, 
with little regret, to deftrnéction. 
Afterwards, when a more mature 
age had ripened his judgment, he 
was frequently heard to fay, that 
he had preferved from the flames 
thofe compofitions which he then 
thought the fineft productions of 
human genius, in order at a future 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
period to confign them to deftruc- 
tion as unworthy of his pen. 
In this period of life, Haller com-> 
pares himfelf to a wild plant, which 
is left to grow without pruning; 
and this very circumftance. was pro- 
bably the principal caufe of his fu- 
ture proficiency, and the foundation 
of that univerfal knowledge, to 
which he afterwards attained. 
e had been originally intended 
for the law: but his active mind 
could not fubmit -to follow a pro- 
feffion which would limit his ingui- 
ries; which entirely depended on 
precedentand authority ; and which, 
to ufe his own quotation from Ho- 
race, in a letter to his friend Bonnet, © 
obliged him, 
Furare in verba magifiri. 
And although he could not fubmit © 
to the fhackles of that narrow phi- 
lofephy, fo ftrongly recommended 
and enforced by his new preceptor, 
yet he appears to have been prin- 
cipally determined by his advice to 
dedicate himfelf to phyfic; the 
ftudy of which comprehends fuch 
a variety of literary’ purfuits, as 
feemed congenial to the zeal and 
activity of his capacious mind. He 
had no fooner formed this refolu- 
tion, than he adopted a more regu- 
lar and uniform plan, than he had 
hitherto been able to purfue. For 
this purpofe he removed, towards 
the end of 1723, to the univerfity - 
of Tubingen, where he profecuted 
his ftudies with that unwearied ap- 
plication, which never forfook him, 
under the profeffors Elias Camera- 
rius and Du Vernoy. From Ca- 
merarius he learned thofe found 
principles of rational philofophy,. 
which teach us firt to doubt, and 
afterwards. to believe; and which 
are 
