MULLER MULLET. 



87 



Frederic the Great, when the battle of Jena put a 

 stop to his labours. Napoleon had a conversation 

 with him at Berlin, and treated him with much dis- 

 tinction. The genius and kindness of the emperor 

 won his esteem, and, in his discourse De la Gloire de 

 Frederic, delivered before the academy, he spoke of 

 him in favourable terras. This made Muller an 

 object of suspicion in Prussia : he was, therefore, 

 more ready to accept a place at the university of 

 Tubingen ; but while on his way thither, received 

 the information of his appointment as secretary of 

 state to the kingdom of Westphalia, which post he 

 entered upon with reluctance. He was finally per- 

 mitted to resign it in 1808, and died in 1809. The 

 first division of the fifth volume of his History of 

 Switzerland was published in 1808. His complete 

 works were published at Tubingen, in 1810, &c., in 

 twenty-seven volumes. His letters (vol. 4 7 and 

 13 18) contain important materials for forming a 

 just estimate of his character. Heeren's Muller tier 

 Historiker (Leipsic, 1809) presents an impartial view 

 of his services and his faults. His great work 

 Gesch ichte SchweizerischerEidgenossenschaft comes 

 down only to 1489. It is distinguished for accuracy 

 of research, profound and broad views, and, although 

 minute, is not dry. 



MULLER, JOHN GOTTHARD VON, one of the most 

 eminent engravers of Germany, was born in Wurtem- 

 berg, 1747, and early displayed so much talent, that 

 the duke sent him to Paris in 1770. Here he studied 

 engraving under the celebrated Wille, made rapid 

 progress, and was chosen member of the academy of 

 arts. He was soon after invited to Stuttgard, by the 

 duke of Wurtemberg, as professor of the academy in 

 that place, and there published the master-pieces by 

 which he has become celebrated. His principal his- 

 torical pieces are the Battle of Bunker Hill, from 

 Trumbull, and the Madonna della Sedia of Raphael. 

 He is particularly remarkable for the purity and 

 softness of his burin. He died in 1830. His son 

 John Frederic William, born at Stuttgard in 1782, 

 was also a distinguished engraver. He received his 

 education at the gymnasium in Stuttgard, and was 

 instructed by his father, in geometry and perspective. 

 His attempts with the burin were successful beyond 

 expectation, and, in compliance with the precepts 

 and example of "his father, he employed himself as- 

 siduously in the study of drawing. At the age oi 

 twenty years, he went to Paris, and applied himself 

 with such excessive ardour as to injure his health ; 

 he likewise practised oil-painting, and executed three 

 portraits from nature. While at Paris, he engravec 

 the Venus of Aries for the Musee Francais, and a 

 statue La Jeunesse for Robillard : the latter exhibited 

 a wonderful skill in imitating the appearance and ex- 

 pression of marble, on copper. In 1805, he paintec 

 and engraved the portrait of the crown prince, sine** 

 king of Wurtemberg ; began the famous Jolm, after 

 Domenichino, and drew the St Cecilia of the same 

 master. In 1808, it was proposed to him, by Ritt 

 ner, a dealer in works of art, to engrave Raphael's 

 Madonna del Sisto, in the Dresden gallery ; and 

 animated by the greatness of the undertaking, he 

 determined to devote all his powers to its execution 

 and, previously, to study his art in Italy. In 1809 

 he returned from Italy, and entered, with his usua 

 industry, upon his great work. In the mean time 

 he executed several works, such as the portraits o 

 Jacob!, Schiller, and Hebel, and the Adam and Eve 

 after Raphael. In 1814, he was appointed professo 

 in the Dresden academy of arts; but his health begai 

 to fail, and he exhausted the" last remains of his menta 

 and bodily vigour in the completion of his favourit< 

 work. He died in 1816, without having seen an 

 impression of this splendid production. 



MULLER, FREDERIC, usually called Muler Muller, 

 r Muller the Painter, born at Creuznach, in 1746, 

 published, as early as his eighteenth year, and sub- 

 equently, several collections of etchings (animals, 

 ompositions in the Flemish style, pastoral scenes, 

 ic.), which were remarkable for their originality and 

 reedom. In 1776, he went to Rome, and studied 

 he works of Michael Angelo, but without much 

 uccess. Like many of those who imitate that master, 

 n attempting to copy his grandeur, he fell into an 

 sxaggerated style. As a poet, he deserves more 

 oredit. At a time when German poetry had degener- 

 ated into a mere versified prose, Muller appeared 

 mong the great writers who gave a new impulse to 

 German literature. (See German Literature.) His 

 complete works were published at Heidelberg (1811, 

 3 vols.). The principal are Niobe, Faust, and Gene- 

 vieve. They are characterized by richness of fancy, 

 varmth of passion, and elevated delineation of char- 

 acter, though sometimes wild and disconnected. He 

 lied at Rome, in 1825, in the eightieth year of his 

 age. 



MULLER, WILLIAM, a German poet, born at 

 Dessau, 1795, studied at Berlin (1812), where his 

 avourite branches were the historical and philological. 

 The war of 1813 called him from his books, and he 

 was present, as a volunteer, in the Prussian army, at 

 the battles of Lutzen, Bautzen, Hanau, and Culm. 

 In 1814, he returned to his studies at Berlin, and 

 cultivated the old German poetry and literature. 

 His early display of talents had induced his father (a 

 mechanic, in moderate circumstances) to allow him 

 to follow his own inclinations ; and, at Berlin, he had 

 enjoyed the advantage of the instructions of Bockh, 

 Buttmann, Ruhs, and Uhden. His journey to Italy 

 (1819) produced his ingenious work Rom, Homer, 

 mid Romerinnen (Berlin, 1820); and, on his return 

 to Germany, he became teacher of Latin and Greek, 

 in the newly established school at Dessau, where he 

 was also appointed ducal librarian. In 1824 ap- 

 peared his Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papicren 

 eines reisenden IValdhornisten, which displays great 

 poetical merit. His Lieder der Griechen (1825) 

 celebrates with poetic fire, the awakening of an 

 oppressed nation, its struggle, and its victory. His 

 Lyrische Spaziergange displays the same truth to 

 nature, freshness, and fire, and the same harmony of 

 language, which characterize his other poems. He 

 also contributed many critical papers to several Ger- 

 man periodicals and encyclopaedias, and his Ho- 

 merische Vorschule (1824) is a work of much learn- 

 ing. His Bibliothek Dcutscher des 17 Jahrhunderts 

 (10 vols., Leipsic, 162227) is a valuable collection 

 of the best lyric poems of that period. He died in 

 1827. His works were collected in 5 volumes (Leip- 

 sic, 1830). 



MULLET (mullus, L.); a genus of acanthoptei y- 

 gian fishes, distinguished by the oblique form ot their 

 head ; by two long appendages under the chin, and 

 large scales on the head and body, which are very 

 easily detached. Their body is oblong, and generally 

 of a red or yellow colour ; their head of a moderate 

 size; their eyes situated clo?e to each other. The 

 most celebrated species is the M. lurlatus, which is 

 found in the Mediterranean. These i?h were held in 

 great estimation among the epicures of ancient Rome, 

 and were sometimes sold for their weight in silver. 

 Pliny gives n n instance where about 60 were given 

 for a single fish, of about three pounds' weight. Ju- 

 venal also records the height to which luxury had 

 attained in his days, in speaking of the prices given for 

 the mullet " Mullttm sax millilus emit, Mquantem 

 sane paribus scstertia libris." But the extravagant 

 of these conquerors of the world was still moiv 

 strongly exemplified in the mode in which tln-e 



