745 



BOHLEN, PETER VON. 



BOHME, JACOB. 



746 



farmers. When he was twelve years old he was put apprentice to a 

 village tailor, by whom he was ill-used in a manner which he after- 

 wards related with shuddering. In 1810, his mother having died in 

 the meantime, he was called upon as an orphan boy to appear at Jever 

 to be examined as to his fitness for serving in the army of Napoleon. 

 He was delighted at the prospect of getting away from his master and 

 of seeing something of the world ; but he was found to be too short, 

 and was obliged to return to the tailor. Some time afterwards he was 

 called upon again, and was admitted into the army. At the examination 

 the French general Guitou was pleased with his appearance, and took 

 him into his service. In 1812 he accompanied his new master, who 

 was extremely kind to him, to Hanover, from which place frequent 

 excursions were made to the neighbouring towns. Afterwards they 

 travelled to Stutgardt, Switzerland, and Berlin. General Guiton 

 gradually ceased to demand any services of Bohlen, and treated him 

 more as a son than as a servant. In 1813, when the French army 

 returned from Russia, Guiton and his corps retreated to Magdeburg. 

 Bohlen afterwards accompanied the general to Hamburg. At this 

 time however the relation between the general and Bohlen became 

 much less cordial. Fromont, the adjutant of General Guiton, out of 

 friendship for Bohlen, at length procured him another situation as 

 servant to Admiral 1'Hermitc, but he did not remain with the admiral 

 above two months. Early in 1814 the French quitted Hamburg, and 

 Bohlen, although he had nothing to live upon, refused to accompany 

 the admiral. He remained at Hamburg, and obtained a place as waiter 

 in an hotel ; but the incessant work and the want of rest was more 

 than he could bear; he accordingly left his place, and engaged himself 

 as servant to a rich India merchant. As he had not much to do in 

 his new situation, he got his master's clerk to instruct him iu letter- 

 writing and the like, and employed his time in reading. In the mean- 

 time he acquired a passion for writing poetry. He had learned to 

 speak French in his intercourse with Frenchmen, and he now learned 

 h in the same way ; for in the house of his employer scarcely 

 any other language than English was spoken. He then began translating 

 Burns into German, and with the assistance of a dictionary and grammar 

 he even ventured upon translating Virgil. In 1817 he became a pupil 

 of the Johanueum at Hamburg. His diligence in prosecuting his 

 studies was extraordinary, and his conduct secured the goodwill of all. 

 His intention was at 6rst to study theology ; but the preparation that 

 he made for it, the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian, led him in 

 another direction. About this time he was induced by a fit of vanity 

 to assume the prefix that indicates a nobleman, Von Bohlen, as he 

 remembered to have heard that his father was descended from a noble 

 family. 



In 1821 he went to the University of Halle, some distinguished and 

 wealthy Hamburgers having provided him with the means of pursuing 

 his studies there for three years. At the suggestion of Gesenius, who 

 was his principal teacher, Bohlen copied, translated, and commented 

 upon an episode of Ferdusi, which was sent to the Prussian ministry, 

 with the view of obtaining the patronage of the government. In 1822, 

 before he left Halle, Von Bohlen published a little work, ' Symbolic ad 

 Interpretationem S. Cod. ex Lingua Persica,' which was well received ; 

 and in the autumn of the same year he went to Bonn to study Arabic 

 under Freytag. Here he wrote a dissertation on the life and character 

 of Motenabbi, which received the prize, and was printed at Bonn in 

 1824. In the meantime he continued his studies of the Persian language, 

 and gave attention also to Sanscrit, and to Italian and Spanish. Towards 

 the end of this year the Prussian ministry summoned him to Berlin, 

 that he might complete his studies there, and prepare himself for a 

 professorship at Kbnigsberg, where it was proposed to give him an 

 appointment. At Berlin he attended the lectures of Bopp.aud formed 

 an intimate friendship with the late Dr. Rosen. In 1825 he went to 

 Kb'nigsberg to begin his career of academical teacher, in the usual way, 

 as a private lecturer. He received however from the first a consider- 

 able salary, and in 1826 he was appointed professor extraordinary. 

 In 1827 he travelled to Bonn, and married a lady whose acquaintance 

 he had made during his stay there ; and the year after he was appointed 

 ordinary professor of oriental literature. The unhealthy climate of 

 Konigsberg began gradually to undermine his health, and its influence 

 was increased by his incessant studies and neglect of exercise. He 

 then visited England, for the purpose of acquiring oriental manuscripts 

 and books, for which the Prussian ministry placed funds at his disposal. 

 He was also provided by the government with Arabic and Devanagari 

 types, and printed with his own hands the ' Carmen Amali.' Soon 

 after he published his great work on Indian antiquities, entitled ' Das 

 Alto Indien,' which with all its defects is a most valuable work on 

 ancient India. In 1837 he undertook a second journey to England. 

 He stayed some time with the son of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and 

 pursued his oriental studies with his friend Dr. Rosen. On his return 

 to the continent he travelled with his wife to the south of France and 

 Italy for the benefit of her health. Bohleu's health also was in such 

 a precarious state that his friends advised him not to return to the 

 north. He therefore lingered at Heidelberg and Bonn for some time, 

 and then went to Halle. His wife died on the 7th of March 1839, and 

 from this blow he never recovered. He was unable to return to 

 Konigsberg, and remained at Halle. In the beginning of 1840 his 

 condition became worse, and he died on the 6th of February at Halle, 

 where he wai buried. 



Bohlen appears to have been a most amiable man ; and in his auto- 

 biography, from which this account is taken, he relates without any 

 reserve all the vicissitudes of his life, in a manner which secures the 

 affection and admiration of every reader. In 1826 he was elected a 

 member of the Royal Asiatic Society of London. He possessed a 

 most extensive knowledge of Eastern history and literature, and his 

 works rank among the first of their class. Their deficiencies arise 

 mainly from two causes : first, the great haste with which he worked; 

 and secondly, a want of sound philological knowledge, for which he 

 had little taste, though in later years this defect greatly impeded his 

 antiquarian researches, as he himself confesses. We subjoin a list of 

 his separate works : 1, 'Symbolse ad Interpretationem Sacr. Cod. ex 

 Lingua Persica,' Leipzig, 1822 ; 2, ' Commentatio de Motenabbio, 

 celeberrimo Arabum Poeta,' Bonn, 1824 ; 3, ' Carmen Arabicum, 

 Amali dictum,' Konigsberg, 1825 ; 4, ' Vermischte Gedichte und 

 Uebersetzungen,' Konigsberg, 1826; 5, 'De Buddhaismo Teutamen,' 

 Konigsberg, 1827 ; 6, 'Das alte Indien mit besouderer Rucksicht auf 

 Aegypten,' 2 vols., Konigsberg, 1830; 7, ' Bhartriharis Sententise et 

 Carmen Chauropanchasica,' Berlin, 1833; 8, ' Die Genesis, historisch- 

 kritisch erlaiitert,' Kb'uigsberg, 1835; 9, 'Die Spriiche des Bhartrihari, 

 uietri-ich nachgebildet,' Hamburg, 1835; 10, ' llitusanhara, sive Tem- 

 pestatum Cyclus, Carmen Kalidasi,' Lipz., 1840. Bohlen was a con- 

 tributor to the ' Penny Cyclopedia,' for which he wrote the articles 

 ' Lokman,' ' Mahabharatam,' ' Mahnmd of Ghisni,' ' Manu,' ' Moham- 

 med ' (including ' Koran '), and ' Mongols and Tartars.' 



(Autobiographie des Dr. Peter von Bohlen, herausgegeben von Juh 

 Voigt, Kbuigsberg, 1842, second edition.) 



B0HME, or BC-HM, JACOB, frequently mis-written BEHMEN 

 was born at Alt-Seidenberg, in Upper Lusatia, in 1575, of poor but 

 sober and honest parents. Young Jacob's first employment was the 

 care of cattle, after which he was for some time sent to a common 

 school, and then apprenticed to a shoemaker at Gb'rlitz. He married 

 iu 1591 Catherine Huuschmann, the daughter of a citizen of Qorlitz, 

 by whom he had four sons. He became a master-shoemaker in 1595. 



Jacob Bohme relates several remarkable incidents which he says 

 occurred to him in early life. Among other things, he says, that 

 when he was an apprentice, his master and mistress being abroad, 

 there came to the shop a stranger, of a reverend and grave counte- 

 nance, yot in mean apparel, and taking up a pair of shoes desired to 

 buy them. The boy, being yet new to the business, would not 

 presume to set a price on them; but the stranger being very impor- 

 tuuate, Jacob at last named a price which he was certain would keep 

 him harmless in parting with them. The old man paid the money, 

 took the shoes, and went from the shop a little way, when, standing 

 still, with a loud and earnest voice he called, " Jacob, Jacob, come 

 forth." The boy came out in a great fright, amazed that the stranger 

 should call him by his Christian name. The man, with a severe but 

 friendly countenance, fixing his eyes upon him, which were bright and 

 sparkling, took him by his right hand, and said to him " Jacob, thou 

 art little but shalt be great, and become another man, such a one as 

 the world shall wonder at; therefore be pious, fear God, and reverence 

 his word. Read diligently the Holy Scriptures, wherein thou hast 

 comfort and instruction. For thou must endure much misery and 

 poverty, aud suffer persecution ; but be courageous and persevere, for 

 God loves and is gracious unto thee ; " and therewith pressing his hand 

 with a bright sparkling eye fixed on his face, he departed. This pre- 

 diction made a deep impression upon Jacob's mind, and made him 

 bethink himself, and grow serious in his actions, keeping his thoughts 

 stirring in consideration of the caution received. Considering 

 Luke xi. 13 " My Father in Heaven will give his spirit to them that 

 ask him," he desired that comforter. He says that he was at last 

 "surroinded with a divine light for seven days, and stood iu the 

 highest contemplation and in the kingdom of joys whilst he was with 

 his master in the country about the affairs of his vocation." He then 

 grew still more attentive to his duties, read the Scriptur.es, and lived 

 iu all the observance of outward ministrations. Scurrilous and blas- 

 phemous words he would rebuke even in his own master, who, being 

 not able to bear this, set him at liberty with full permission to seek 

 his livelihood as he liked best. About the year 1600, iu the 25th year 

 of his age, Jacob was again surrounded by the divine light, and 

 viewing the herbs and the grass in the fields near Gb'rlitz iu his 

 inward light, ho saw into their essences, use, and properties, which 

 were discovered to him by their lineaments, figures, and signatures. 



In like manner he beheld the whole creation, and from that fountain 

 of revelation he wrote his book ' De Signatura Rerum.' In unfolding 

 these mysteries he had great joy, yet he looked carefully after his 

 family, and lived in peace and silence, scarce intimating to any these 

 wonderful things,' till iu tho year 1610 he wrote his first book, called 

 ' Aurora,' or the ' Morning Redness." This work, contrary to the 

 author's intention, was copied and became public. It fell into the 

 bands of Gregory Richter, superintendent of Gb'rlitz, who attacked 

 it from the pulpit, and endeavoured to stir up the magistracy to 

 exercise their jurisdiction in rooting out this supposed church-weed. 

 The senate convened Jacob Bbhme, seized his book, and admonished 

 him to stick to his last, and leave off writing books. Upon the com- 

 mand of the senate he abstained from writing for seven years, after 

 which he was moved again to write. The list of his works stands as 

 follows; the books which he left unfinished are put in parenthesis : 



