74 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



blishment of a literary archseology, and the first association of 

 the principles of aesthetics with the study of philology. Yet 

 Heyne has never published a compendium upon any of the 

 twelve subjects upon which lie lectures : these comprise the 

 classics, archaeology, the antiquities of Greece and Rome, and 

 the ancient tragic poets, together with Aristophanes, Homer, 

 Virgil, Horace, Plautus, and Cicero. These lectures are always 

 delivered in a certain order, because they are in the first in- 

 stance intended for the seminary, and therefore for the use of 

 those who, like my brother, are prosecuting their studies there. 

 Heyne's published lectures are so comprehensive and elaborate 

 that they are sold here at the price of from three to five Louis 

 d'or. Koppen's commentary upon Homer is in fact only a 

 dissertation of Heyne's surreptitiously reproduced. Heyne suc- 

 ceeded the renowned Gesner in the presidency of the seminary, 

 but where, in all Germany, can he find a fit successor ? Schiitz, 

 whom Heyne was so anxious to have near him during his 

 declining years, is much too inactive, and is besides fettered 

 with the literary journal. 



6 The seminary is in the most flourishing condition. Among 

 the students there are three, Mathia, Kreis, and Woltmann, 

 who in a few years will be almost unrivalled in Germany for 

 the extent of their learning. People are astonished here in 

 Gottingen to find such extraordinary proficiency attained in so 

 short a time. Mathia is the best Greek scholar, with the ex- 

 ception of Wolf, whom Heyne has ever had for a pupil ; he is 

 familiar with all the most recent literature of England, Spain, 

 and Italy, and is intimately acquainted with Kant's philosophy. 

 The most agreeable and intellectual companions I find here 

 are among the collegians of the seminary. With Woltmann, 

 who has a wonderful talent for versification in German, and 

 indeed also in Greek, I have almost daily intercourse. He is 

 an excellent man, to whom I have been drawn by the striking- 

 resemblance he bears in character to yourself. He has been 

 -educated under the younger Stollberg, by whose influence he 

 has become imbued with a most extraordinary enthusiasm for 

 the writings of the ancients, and will certainly one .day highly 

 distinguish himself. I usually spend from nine till eleven 

 .o'clock every evening with him, when we read together Plautus 



