S34 Life of John Henry Lamlert. 



tion of his studies : and the money necessary for the pur- 

 chase of candles, with which he could not expect to he sup- 

 plied by his parents, he procured by the sale of small draw- 

 ings, which he delineated whilst he, with his foot, rocked his 

 infant sister. Some workmen being employed, one day, in 

 repairing his father's house, this afforded him an opportunity 

 of putting several questions respecting the practical applica- 

 tion of some principles he had found in his book to the 

 builder, who was induced thereby to gratify him by the loan 

 of a mathematical work which he possessed. Words are 

 inadequate to express the joy which he felt on discovering 

 that this work was completely calculated to enable him to 

 correct the errors which he had found in his ov.n book. He 

 uow learned from these two books, vvithout anv additional 

 assistance, the rudiments of arithmetic and geometry. 



His enthusiastic zeal for the sciences prompted at length 

 several men of learning to instruct him gratis, and they had 

 the satisfaction of seeing him improve with a rapiditv that 

 exceeded their most sanguine expectations. Thus ge- 

 nerously supported, he acquired in a short time a knowledge 

 of philosophy and the oriental languages, and learned to 

 write a very elegant hand, which procured him the place of 

 a copyist in the chancery of his native town, whence he re- 

 moved in his lifteenth year to the iron-works of a Mr. de la 

 Lampe, situated in the vicinity of his native place, where 

 he was appointed book-keeper, and obtained an opportunity 

 of learning the French language, in which his father could 

 not have hnn instructed on account of his poverty. 



Two years after, Mr. L=e!in, of Basle, who then conducted 

 the publication of a ncv/spapcr, engaged hin) in the capa- 

 city of amanuensis, and in a short tunc conceived for him 

 the most tender friendship, of w hich he gave him nume- 

 rous proofs as long as he lived. This situation afforded 

 Lambert an opportunitv of making furtlier progress in the 

 belles leltres as well as in philosophy and mathematics; and 

 his passionate love of the latter science frequently made him 

 neglect his regular occupations. In the year 1 748 he was 

 recommended by his patron to baron Salis, president of the 

 Swiss confederacy, as tutor to his children. The excellent 

 library v.hich he found in the house of his new patron, and the 

 icisLU-c hours with which he was indulged, together with the 

 instructive intercourse which he had with all the members of 

 that illustrious family, and with a great number of scien- 

 tific strangers who visited the baron, proved to him excel- 

 lent means of satisfying his thirst for knowledge, and en- 

 abled him to become more familiarly acquainted v. ilh astro- 

 nomy 



