MEMOIR 

 OP 



BARON HALLER 



ALBERT YON HALLER, the subject of this Memoir, 

 was born at Berne on the 16th of October, 1708. 

 He was the son of Nicolas Haller, an Advocate of 

 considerable eminence in his profession. His father 

 had a numerous family, and Albert was the youngest 

 of four sons. Though exceedingly delicate in in- 

 fancy, yet, from his earliest years, he exhibited the 

 greatest capacity for almost every species of litera- 

 ture. His education, as well as that of his brothers, 

 was entrusted to the care of a preceptor named 

 Baillodz, and such was the severity of discipline 

 exercised by this individual, that the accidental 

 sight of him, at any future period of life, never 

 failed to excite in Haller great uneasiness, and to 

 renew the terrors of his youth. 



The early display of his talents was most extra- 

 ordinary, and almost incredible ; for no sooner was 

 he taught to write, than he legan to arrange in 

 alphabetic order all the words he learned in different 



