ROBINSON CRUSOE. 7 



fitted to teach children than men, and those men soldiers, 

 he was transplanted by Major Yon Humboldt to teach 

 his sons, at the old castle of Tegel. A ripe and varied 

 scholar even then, he enjoyed in after life the reputation 

 of being, next to Klopstock, the greatest philologist and 

 critic of German style. He is the author of a German 

 dictionary, and other works calculated to improve the 

 language. But the books by which he is best known 

 are those of travel and adventure. The chiefest of these 

 are his " Discovery of America," and " Robinson Crusoe." 

 Looking back from the vantage ground of Time, and 

 bearing in mind what Alexander Von Humboldt has 

 done, what might have seemed a trivial thing then, a 

 mere lucky chance, now seems the special ordering of 

 Nature. He was fitted, we have since learned, to per- 

 form a great work for her ; but before he could perform 

 that work it was necessary that she should reveal it to 

 him. If the child is to become the father of the man, 

 the man must somehow be brought before the mental 

 eye of the child. His infancy must be nurtured by 

 noble books, and wise teachers, or 



" By solemn vision, and bright silver dream." 



What better teacher could the boy have had, considering 

 the work he was to do, than one who translated that 

 marvellous fiction of the homely old truth-teller, De Foe, 

 — the fresh, unfading, world-renowned Robinson Crusoe? 

 It was the book of all others to fire his youthful imagina- 

 tion with the desire of travel, and to fill his mind with 

 the unconquerable spirit of adventure. It was a happy 

 day when Joachim Heinrich Campe, philologist, critic, 



