Sfxt. II.] Germany. 179 



with a much greater number of nearly equal emi- 

 nence, would do the highest honour to any coun- 

 try, or any age. 



Oriental literature eminently flourished in Ger- 

 many during the eighteenth century. It may be 

 questioned whether the oriental learning and 

 critical skill of the Michaelises, Eichhorn, and 

 Reiske, were ever before equalled. To which il- 

 lustrious names it would be improper not to add 

 those of Reineccius, Ludolf, Hezel, Schroeder, 

 Wahl, Hirt, Tychsen, Paulus, and Hasse, who 

 have rendered important services to the cause of 

 eastern learning, and biblical criticism. 



No country has ever produced so great a num- 

 ber of authors, within a similar period, as Ger- 

 many, in the eighteenth century ; and there is no 

 country where a taste for reading more generally 

 prevails, especially in the protestant provinces. 

 Printing is carried to an excess truly wonderful. 

 Almost every man of letters is an author. Books 

 are multiplied to an incredible extent. Between 

 six and seven thousand new works are annually 

 published, beside smaller controversial pieces ; 

 for no one can become a graduate in their uni- 

 versities unless he has published at least one con- 

 troversial treatise. 



In Germany the authors by profession amount 

 to about fifteen thousand? It is true, the greater 

 part of these are chiefly occupied in translating 

 from other languages, especially the French and 

 English. But their translations are generally ac- 

 companied with large bodies of learned notes, 

 which, if well executed, require all the judgement 

 and labour of original composition. It is further 



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