HOKHUK. DANIEL OEORdR 



MORHOF, DANIEL GKORCIE. 







: ,: : 



The nnt petal engraved by Urn in Florenoe w*. the Madonna d.lla 

 Seffiala. la ITM M comuienosd the celebrated Madonna del Saoco, 

 after Audit* del Karto, nJ lUffsrlle s Transfiguration ; bat his time 

 was much Ukcn up by portrait commissions from the royal family of 

 *"* eoce. Hi* fint picture is in Florence; the Transfiguration he 

 and from drawing by Tofanelli : he had commenced one from 



r by A. del Era; but upon com [wring this with the original he 

 U very faulty, and h wai forced to abandon what he had already 

 Thi practice of engraving from copies and publishing the work* 

 produced a* engraved from the original pictures, my be a cuitom 

 with engraven, but it u a practice that cannot be justified, unleu the 

 original ii not within the reach of the engraver, or unloM the source 

 be acknowledged upon the print. An engraver may commence his 

 print from the print of another man if he haa compared the copy 

 with the original ud found it to bo exact ; but an acknowledgment 

 of the availed assistance U imperative iu point of honour. A priut 

 which u told ai a faithful copy of a certain work of art, and u only 

 the copy of a copy, without reference to the original, is virtually 

 forgery. Jordan, the Kuasian engraver, for bis large and excellent 

 engraving of the Transfiguration, wan engaged thirteen month* iu the 

 Vatican making hi* chalk drawing from the picture, to execute hii 

 engraving from, and it was pronounced by all who saw it as exact a copy 

 as could be made. All engraven cannot do this, but they can all ascer- 

 tain whether the drawing* they work from are approved copies or not 



Morgben's Transfiguration was not completed until 1812, when it 

 appeared with a dedication to Napuleon I., and the emperor invited 

 the engraver to Paris, and honoured him with various present* This 

 print was originally sold at about twenty scudi, or four guineas, but 

 the price afterwards very much increased, and reached, in some 

 ioipre-sion*, from 20t to SOi. The cast-away print was also finished 

 by Morgluu's brother, Antonio, but it is said that only two hundred 

 iuiprcwoii* of it were ever printed : the plate came into the possee- 

 aioo of Artaria and Co., at Mannheim. Though less correct, it lias 

 more technical effect as an engraving thun the second print. Of the 

 second print there are eight different kinds of impressions : etchings, 

 in five degrees of progreu, iu which additional portions ore finished ; 

 fifteen impressions in which all ia finished but the book in the hand of 

 St. Andrew; impressions in the same degree of progress, with the 

 inscription, ' Et traosuguratus eat auto eos,' written with the needle ; 

 and, lastly, the completely finished prints. The engraving in a work 

 of great labour, of great skill, and of extraordinary merit as far as the 

 execution of the lines goes, yet it leaves much to be desired ; it wauts 

 tone and aerial perspective, it is hard aiid metallic, and, as a whole, is 

 flat, though the individual parts are beautifully rounded. Morghen 

 was engaged while this work was in progress, three years, upon a print 

 of the Last Supper by Lioiiardo da Vinci, and this U hu masterpiece. 

 The flatnean and equality of his general execution is not perceptible or 

 detrimental to this work, u the picture is comparatively in one plain, 

 atid it is sufficiently large to admit of great detail of expression : it 

 was made from a drawing by Teodoro Matteini. Later impressions 

 are retouched ; the first and by far the most valuable have no comma 

 aftrr the word ' vobis dico vobis,' Ac. The last impressions are also 

 without the comma, which was removed. 



Raphael Morghen died at Florence, April 8, 1833, and an extrava- 

 gantly eulogistic inscription was placed upon his tomb. His pupil 

 Palmerini published at Florence, in 1824, a life and portrait of him, 

 with a list of his works, < Catalogo delle Opere d'Intaglio di Raflaello 

 llorgben, raccolte ed illustrate da N. Palmerini,' &c, Morghen has 

 engraved, according to this list, 73 portrait*; 41 biblical and religious 

 pieces; 44 historical and mythological pieces; 24 views and landscapes; 

 and 13 vignettes and crests, &c. ; in all 201 pieces : there are probably 

 others omitted in the catalogue. Dr. Nagler has reprinted the list 

 entire in his KunsUer Lexicon.' 



MORHOF, DANIEL. GEORGE, U well known as the author of a 

 very useful work, entitled ' 1'olyhUtor.' A life of him, extending to 

 78 closely-printed quarto pages, is prefixed, nnder the title of ' Prole- 

 gomena,' to the second volume of that work, by the editor, John 

 If oiler, rector of the grammar school of Flentburg in Schloswig. 

 Jfrom this copious dissertation it appears that Morhof was born at 

 WUmer, in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the 6th of 

 February 1639. His father was Joachim Morhof, notary public, 

 assistant-clerk to the town council (Scnatui urbano a judicii inferioris 

 Mentis), who bad btcu born of humble parentage in the Mark of 

 Brandenburg, and U described as distinguished both for his probity 

 and his learning ; hie mother was Agnes, daughter of Daniel Hintziu*, 

 a mpeotable merchant Young Morhof was taught his Latin rudi- 

 ments at home by his father, who also made him early familiar with 

 the Bible, and with the elements of general history. Before he knew 

 hi* alphabet he was fond of music, in which be afterwards made 

 remarkable )inn,r<s, When he was in due time sent to the Athe- 

 DSMUB, or academy, cf his native town, he distinguished himself not 

 only iii Latin and Oreek, but in history and in the mathematical 

 science*. In March 1655 be was sent to the Royal Paxlagogium of 

 Stettin, whence after two yean he proceeded to the University of 

 Bostock to study law. He continued however to give a great part of 

 bis time to elegant literature, and especially to poetry, composing 

 verses both in Latin and German with great facility, and much to the 

 admiral ion of his friends. In 1C90 he obtained the professorship of 



poetry in the university. In the end of the same year, before com- 

 mencing hu public prelections, he visited Holland and England, 

 remaining for some time iu this country that he might have the use 

 of the Bodleian Library. He also addressed a congratulatory Latiu 

 poem to Charles II. on his restoration. On his return to the .Conti- 

 nent he was made Doctor of Laws by the University of Franeker in 

 Friesland, on the 26th of September 1661. He greatly distinguished 

 himself by the manner iu which he performed the duties of his pro- 

 fessorship"; and in 1665 he was invited and induced to accept tho 

 appointment of Public Doctor of Eloquence and Poetry in the newly- 

 founded University of Kiel in Holstein. In the summer of 1670 he 

 made a second journey to Holland and England, and stayed for a 

 considerable time in London, where he enjoyed the society, among 

 others, of Boyle, Isaac Vossius, and Oldenburg, the secretary of the 

 Royal Society. On the 23rd of October 1671 he marrid, at Ki.-l, 

 Margaret, daughter of Caspar a Degingk, senator of Lubeck. She 

 died in 1687, after having brought him four sons, of whom the second, 

 George Marquard, and the fourth, Eric George, died young ; the first, 

 Caspar Daniel, and the third, Frederic, survived their father. 



In 1673 Morhof succeeded to the professorship of history ; and in 

 1680 he was appointed librarian to the university. Tho latter charg.t 

 to so devoted a reader was peculiarly gratifying. From the time of 

 the loss of his wife however his health began to break dawn. In 

 1690 he was attacked by a serious illness ; and when he hod partially 

 recovered, in the spring of the following year, be undertook an ill- 

 advised journey to tho mineral waters of Pyrmont, from which he 

 never returned ; he only got back us far as Lubeck, and tliciv 

 breathed his lost, on the 30th of July 1UU1, in the fifty-third year of 

 his age. 



Morhof was a very voluminous author. The account of his writing*, 

 published and unpublished, fills nearly 50 pages of the memoir by hu 

 friend Mailer. His fint production consisted of two Latin poems, 

 published together in 1657. This was followed by an academical 

 disquisition entitled ' Diatriba de Morbis et eorutu Reuiediu Juridiua,' 

 in 1658 ; and afterwards, among other works, by an octavo volume 

 entitled ' Kpigrainmatum et Jooorum CenturU Prium,' iu 1659; ' Dia- 

 tribe Philologica de Novo Anno ejutque Hitibus,' iu 1663; a curious 

 defence of tho miraculous powers claimed by the kings of England 

 and France in the cure of the king's-eril, under the title of 'Prinoeps 

 Medieus," in 1665; a volume of ' .Mi^ci-Haiiea Poetica,' in 1606; 

 another entitled ' Veuerum, sive Kpithalarniorum, Liber,' in 1G67 ; 

 another entitled ' Kuuerurn Liber,' in the tame year ; several other 

 volumes of Latin verse at various times ; a translation into Latin of 

 several of Boyle's tracts, iu 1671 ; ' UUputatio de Sole Igueo Acudetuica,' 

 in 1672; in 1673 'Epistola de Trausuiutatioue Mutollorum,' (from 

 which it is evident that he was a believer in the philosopher's btoue) ; 

 in 1682, an 8vo volume, in German, on the history of the German 

 language and poetry (' Unterricht von der Deutschen Sprache und 

 Poesie,' Ac.), with a collection of his own German verses ' Teutecho 

 Qedichte'); in 1684, 'Liber de PutaviuiUte Livi&ua;' in 16S6, 

 ' Otiorum Divinorum, sen Carmiuum Socroruui Liber ; ' and tho first 

 and second books of his ' Polj histor,' iu 1688. After hia death 

 appeared, among other works, iu liiu I, ' D. O. Morhofu CVIII. 

 Quffistioues Chymicto, ex variis Autoribus Chymicis collecUn ; ' iu 

 l(iy", ' Morholii Opera Poetica Latina omnia;' in 1693, 'Morhoui 

 Oratiomset Programmata ; ' in 1699, ' Morhofii Dissertatioues Aca- 

 demics; et Epistoliceo.' For the works which he left in manuscript, 

 mostly iu an unfinished state, and which have never been printed, we 

 must refer to the ample pages of his biographer. They arc far too 

 numerous to be noticed here. So great a quantity of literary pro- 

 duction iu so short a life sufficiently attests Morhof s diligence and 

 facility. Hia judgment however appean to have been hardly iu 

 proportion to his acquirements; and even his learning was more 

 remarkable for its superficial extent than for its depth. Of all the 

 mass of authorship to which his name is attached, hu 'Poly histor' 

 is, we believe, the only portion that is still held in any esteem. 



The full title of this work is ' Polyhistor Literarius, Philosophicus, 

 et Practicus.' Of the 'Polyhistor Literarius,' intended to form the 

 first volume, Two Books, a* already mentioned, were published by the 

 author himself in 1688. They were brought out in 4 to at Lubeck. 

 The firit is entitled ' Bibliothecarius ; ' the Second, ' Methodicus.' As 

 reprinted iu the last edition of the work, they make together 688 page*. 

 A Third Book, entitled napaaittucurrutos, was printed from Morhof s 

 manuscript at Lubeck in 1692, with a re-imprcesiou of the two pre- 

 ceding Books : it extends to 156 pages. The remainder of the first 

 volume, consisting of Book i v., entitled ' Grammaticus ' (206 pp.) ; 

 Book v., entitled ' Critious ' (20 pp.); Book TL, entitled ' Oratorius' 

 (60pp.); and Book vn., entitled PoetictiB 1 (72 pp.), were compiled 

 from notes of Morhof s lectures, by Mollur and John r'rickius, professor 

 of theology at Ului ; they also added the ' Polyhistor Philosophicus,' 

 iu Five Books ; and the ' Polyhistor Fractious,' in .Seven Books ; and 

 published the completed work in 2 vols. 4to iu 1704. A new edition 

 of the whole work was produced in 2 vols. 4to, by John Albert 

 Fabriciu*, in 1731 ; and another edition iu 4to, by the same editor, iu 

 1747. All the editions have been published at Lubeck. With thai 

 ample indexes which Fabricius has appended (though the plan of 

 notation is rather complicated), and with the corrections and additions 

 which it has received from his extensive and accurate learning, the 



