COLLEGE LIFE. 73 



the distinguished men taking the lead in the circles of science 

 and literature, by all of whom he was welcomed with the most 

 gratifying cordiality. With Heyne and the other men of note 

 he at once entered upon terms of intimacy : nevertheless, he 

 found at first, as he complains to PfafF in the letter above 

 quoted, that the stiff, unsocial society at Gottingen gave little- 

 opportunity for free and unreserved intercourse a formality,, 

 however, which soon began to dissipate. He joined his brother 

 William in the study of philology at the seminary, and attended 

 a course of lectures by Heyne on archaeology delivered in the 

 large hall of the University library, which was hung round with 

 engravings and casts from the antique; under Spittler he 

 studied the history of trade and commerce, and obtained; 

 private instruction from Lichtenberg in certain branches of' 

 physical science, such as light, heat, and electricity ; he 

 studied agriculture under Beckmann, and attended Heyne's lec- 

 tures on the Iliad, to hear which an audience numbering about 

 fifty assembled. The most popular lectures were attended 

 by from 200 to 300 students. ' Heyne,' writes Humboldt in 

 a letter to Wegener, ' is undoubtedly the most clear-headed 

 man, and in certain branches of knowledge the most learned 

 professor, in Gottingen. His delivery is laboured and hesi- 

 tating, but he is in the highest degree philosophical in his turn 

 of mind, and logical in the sequence of his ideas.' 



His sketch of the professors, c although amid this posse of 

 great men, he could not know all equally well,' is marked by a 

 vein of humour and a tone of seriousness truly surprising in a 

 youth of scarcely twenty years of age, and seems to prove that 

 the maturity of mind which could thus early manifest so exten- 

 sive an acquaintance with men and things had been acquired 

 more from association with -refined society and men of superior 

 abilities than from any merely formal course of instruction. 

 We must, however, restrict ourselves to one or two of his- 

 descriptions. 



' . . . . Heyne is undoubtedly the man to whom this century 

 is the most deeply indebted; to him we owe the spread of re- 

 ligious enlightenment by means of the education and training 

 he has instituted for young village schoolmasters, to him is due 

 the introduction of a more liberal tone of thought, the esta- 



