f 429 |] 
CHARACTERS. 
Account of the late eminent Philo- 
logist and Critic, Professor 
Heyne of Gottingen, from his 
Life published in German. 
HRISTIAN GOTTLOB 
HEYNE, an eminent critical 
scholar and philologist, was born 
at Chemnitz, in September 1729. 
In his younger years he had to 
struggle against the pressure of 
extreme poverty. His parents, 
who subsisted by the linen manu- 
facture, were exceedingly indi- 
gent, and according to his own 
-emphatic account, ‘ the first im- 
pressions on his mind were made 
by the tears of his mother, la- 
menting that she was not able to 
find bread for her children.” He 
was, however, sent toa common 
school in his native place, where 
he shewed great aptitude for learn- 
ing, and soon made so much pro- 
gress, that in his tenth year he 
ave lessons in reading and writ- 
ing toa female child of a neigh- 
bour, in order that he might ob- 
tain money to defray the expense 
-of his own education. By the 
‘friendship of a clergyman, who 
had been one of his godfathers, 
he was enabled to enter himself 
at the grammar-school. He now 
applied with the greatest dili- 
gence, and having acquired a 
competent knowledge of the 
Greek and Latin languages, was 
sent to the university of Leipsic, 
where he soon attracted the no- 
tice of professors Christ, Ernesti, 
and Winkler. On the recommen- 
dation of Ernesti, he obtained the 
situation of private tutor in the 
family of a French merchant, but 
only for a short period, and there- 
fore he was obliged to support 
himself in the best manner he 
could by private teaching. Hav- 
ing made choice of the law fora 
profession, he endeavoured to be- 
come thoroughly acquainted with 
the Roman law, literature, \ and 
history. The knowledge acquired 
in this manner enabled him after- 
wards to give lectures to the stu- 
dents of jurisprudence on the Ro- 
man antiquities, which were re- 
ceived with great approbation. A 
Latin elegy which he wrote on 
the death of Lacoste, preacher of 
the French reformed congrega~ 
tion, attracted the notice of the 
Saxon minister, Count Bruhl, and 
procured him an_ invitation to 
Dresden, to which he repaired in 
April 
