18 MEMOIR OP BARON H ABLER. 
languages, subjoining a short explanation; so that 
he very early composed a kind of lexicon or voca- 
bulary in Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic, to which 
he had frequent recourse in the subsequent periods 
of his life. When ten years of age, he -wrote verses 
in German and Latin, with a point which astonished 
his masters ; and with this weapon he revenged 
himself for the severity of his tutor, hy describing 
in Latin satires what was most ridiculous in his 
pedantry. At the age of twelve, he had extracted 
from the Dictionaries of Moreri and Bayle, literary 
notices of two thousand of the most distinguished 
characters there described, thus affording striking 
proof of his assiduity and industry. In his thirteenth 
year he lost his father, and was then sent to the 
public grammar school of his native city. Here 
he speedily distinguished himself among his fellows, 
of which the following has been narrated as one 
proof : — Soon after his attendance commenced, a 
translation into Latin was prescribed to him, which 
he not only speedily and ably executed, but also 
with equal success rendered it into pure and elegant 
Greek. 
On leaving school, he devoted a large share of 
his attention to the cultivation of poetry ; and his 
early essays in verse being published in the German 
language, immediately attracted the attention and 
admiration of the whole empire. His inclination 
to satire was strong, and his success might have 
tempted him to indulge his propensity, but an ac- 
cident about this time occurred, wliich afforded him 
