432 
/at short intervals, till the year 
1775. In 1763, he had been ap- 
pointed first librarian to the uni- 
versity, and in 1770 he obtained 
the title of aulic counsellor, and 
was made secretary to the Royal 
Society of Sciences, and editor of 
the Literary Gazette. As secre- 
tary to the Royal Society he was 
of great service, and gave to that 
institution a life and activity to 
which it had been before a stran- 
ger. The meetings bad been held 
in a very irregular manner; and 
-as none of the papers read before 
it, had been printed for sixteen 
years, Heyne, in 1771, had the 
satisfaction of publishing the first 
volume of the ‘ Commentarii 
Novi,” which was dedicated to 
the King. He also laboured on 
his Pindar, the first edition of 
which made its appearance in 
1773. In 1775 his domestic hap- 
piness was interrupted by the 
death of his wife; but two years 
after, he repaired his loss by mar- 
rying Georgiana Brandes, daugh- 
ter of George Frederick Brandes, 
aulic counsellor, Among his la- 
bours at this time must be men- 
tioned A Catalogue of the Library, 
on a very extensive and improved 
plan, which he began in 1777, 
and completed in 1787; a most 
useful but laborious work, which 
he extended to about one hundred 
and fifty volumes in folio. | In 
1782, he published his ‘* Apollo- 
dorus,” and in 1798 gave a new 
edition of his ‘ Pindar,” in five 
-volumes. His most important 
work, however, and that on which 
-he devoted the greater part of his 
life was the edition of his Homer, 
which he began in 1787, and 
.which he had in some measure 
been induced to undertake by pe- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
rusing Wood's Essay on the Writ» 
ings and Genius of that Poet. 
During fifteen years he ts said to 
have devoted two hours daily to 
this great work, the appearance 
of which he delayed so long, that 
he might procure every possible 
assistance from men of letters, 
among whom were Beck of Leip- 
sic, and Jacobs of Gotha, whose 
service he acknowledges in. the 
preface, which made its first ap- 
pearance in 1802. In 1778 he 
gave a second edition of his Vir- 
gil, in two different forms, one of 
which was ornamented with a 
great many vignettes. This edi- 
tion had been carefully revised 
and considerably improved, not 
only by the author himself, but 
by the assistance of literary friends, 
among whom were Van Santen in 
Holland, and Jacob Bryant in 
England. In the autumn of this 
year he made a tour to Swisser- 
land, in company with his friend 
Dr. Girtanner, in the course of 
which he took an opportunity of 
paying visits to Schweighauser, 
Oberlin, and Brunk. At Zurich 
he formed an acquaintance. also 
with Hottinger and Lavater. Soon 
after his return, he was offered 
the place of chief librarian at 
Dresden, and was invited to Co- 
penhagen to be professor, with a 
salary of three thousand dollars 
and other advantages, but both 
these he declined. During the 
short peace of Amiens ‘in 1802, 
Heyne exerted himself to renew 
that literary connection which had 
been almost destroyed by the po- 
litical storms of the time. As se- 
cretary to the Royal Society of 
-Gottingen, he endeavoured to re- 
vive the correspondence of that 
learned body with the French 
National 
