8 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
the same rich mine, which had before only here and 
there u cropped out” above the surface. 
On the 4th of July, 1787, at the age of little more 
than seven years, young Lewis David was placed in the 
institution of the Moravian community at Nazareth, 
where he continued for eleven years, or until 1798, and 
where he sedulously availed himself of every oppor¬ 
tunity for the acquisition of knowledge. The period of 
instruction,—as generally happens when parental precept 
and example have prepared the way for a relish of 
knowledge,—was to him a season of delight, a scene of 
his life to which he ever after reverted with peculiar 
pleasure. Here were formed those habits of practical 
wisdom, which, when subsequently methodized in the 
schools of Germany, produced that happy balance of 
the faculties, without which the most brilliant talents 
may be wasted, either on ill-directcd efforts, or on wild 
and fanciful theories. His powers of language, and his 
vein of satirical humour, were at this time occasionally 
put forth in the form of poetical effusions, turning the 
fruits of his leisure hours into harmless amusement for 
his companions. 
The apparent facility with which he afterwards com¬ 
posed in the Latin language, induces the belief that his 
early classical instruction was of a very respectable 
order, and certain it is that the qualities of his heart 
were not neglected; his moral character was built on 
the broad and liberal basis of justice, love and charity 
% 
so distinctly inculcated in the doctrines of his commu¬ 
nity. 
