F O R 
fcicu’arly the Polifli, which he had an opportunity of 
fpeaking with his fchool-feilows, many ot whom were 
Poles. Among his fchool-feilows alfo at this time were 
Cochins, Refewitz, Irving, and the celebrated Pallas, 
profelfor at Peterfburgh. In 1748, he was entered at the 
vmiverfity of Halle : his inclination led him to the ftudy 
of medicine; but his father was defirous that he fliould 
apply to jurifprudenre : he however (ludied theology, 
and indulged his tafte for the learned languages, among 
which he included the oriental. In 1751 lie left the uni- 
verfity and repaired to Dantzic, where he foon diffin- 
guiflied himfelf by his fermons, in which he imitated the 
French rather than the Dutch manner, at that time the 
jnoft prevalent. His income being fmall, he had to 
ftruggle with difficulties, which induced him to accept 
an offer made to him by the Ruffian refident at Dantzic, 
of going to Ruffin, to fuperintend the new colonies at 
Saratow : but, whether he had ffiewn himfelf too warm 
a friend of the colonifts, or given offence to count Orlof 
in fome other manner, he foon returned to Peterfburgh, 
without completing his engagement. On his return to 
the capital, he had advantageous offers made to him by 
the academy of fciences, and by that of Mofcovv, but he 
declined both, and came to England in 1766. After his 
arrival in England, he received from the Ruffian govern¬ 
ment a prefent of a hundred guineas ; and by tranflating 
Kalrn’s Travels and Ofbeck’s Voyage, he procured addi¬ 
tional funds for his fupport, till the year 1772, when he 
was engaged to go out as naturalift with captain Cook, 
who was about to proceed on his fecond voyage round 
the world. Forfter at this time was forty-three years of 
age, and was accompanied by his foil George, then feven- 
teen. He returned to England in 1775, and foon after 
the univerfitv of Oxford conferred upon him the degree 
of dodfor of laws. After his return he publifhed, con¬ 
jointly with his fon, a botanical work in Latin, containing 
the charafters of a new genera of plants which had been 
difeovered by them in the courfe of their circumnaviga¬ 
tion. An account of the voyage having been publifhed 
in Englith and German by young Forfter, in which the 
father was fuppol'ed to have had a confiderable fhare, 
though he had entered into an engagement not to publifh 
any thing feparately from the authorifed narrative, they 
not only incurred the difpleafure of government, but gave 
offence to the principal friends by whom they had been 
patronifed. This work abounded with reflections inju¬ 
rious to the government in whofe fervice they had been, 
and unfavourable to the navigators who had conducted 
the expedition. They were therefore treated with fo 
much coolnefs, that they both determined to quit Eng¬ 
land. Fortunately for Forfter, after ftruggling fome time 
with poverty and misfortunes in London, he was invited 
to Halle, in 1780, to be profeffor of natural hiftory : he 
was alfo appointed infpeCtorof the botanical garden; and 
as this officewas connected with the faculty of medicine, 
lie next year took the degree of doCtor of medicine. The 
lofs of his fon George, who died at an early period of 
life, made a deep impreflion on the father, whofe health 
was already in a declining ftate; and in the fpring of the 
year 1798, his cafe was fo defperate, that he expreffed 
himfelf as a dying man in a letter to his friend Kariten, 
dated Halle, April 14. He did not long furvive this let¬ 
ter, but died 011 the 9th of December, 1798, at the age 
of fixty-nine years. The following character is given of 
him by his friend the celebrated Kurt Sprengel, of Halle : 
To a knowledge of books, in all branches of fcience, 
feldom to be met with, he joined an unccmmon fund of 
practical obfervatiens, of which he well knew how to 
avail himfelf. In natural hiftory, in geography, both 
phyfical and moral, and in univerfal hiltcry, he was ac¬ 
quainted with a vaft number of faCts, of which he who 
draws his information from works only has not even a 
diftant idea. This alfertion is proved in the molt ftriking 
manner by his Observations made in a Voyage round the 
Vol. VII. No, 451. 
S T E R, 
World. Of this book it maybe faid, that no traveller 
ever gathered fo rich a treafure on his tour. The un¬ 
common pains which Forfter took in his literary compo- 
fitions, and his confcientious accuracy in, hiftorical dif- 
quifitions, are belt evinced by his Hiftory of the Voyages 
and Dilcoveries in the North, and likewife by his excel¬ 
lent archatological diflertation On the Bvffus of the An¬ 
cients. Refearches fucli as thefe were Ids favourite em¬ 
ployment, in which he was greatly addled by his intimate 
acquaintance with the claflics. He held in utter contempt 
all thofe who, to gratify their pafiions or imitate the pre¬ 
vailing fafliion, made a jell of the mod facred and refpedf- 
able feelings of mankind. His moral feelings were equally 
animated; lie was attracted with irreliftible force by what¬ 
ever was true, good, or excellent. Great characters in- 
fpired him with an efteem which he fometimes expreffed 
with incredible ardour.”—His works, befides thofe above 
mentioned, are for the moft part compilations and tranfta- 
tions. He was the author alfo of feveral papers publifhed 
in the Pliilofopliical TranfaCtions, the Memoirs of the 
Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, the TranfaCtions of 
the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Peterfburgh, and 
thofe of other learned focieties. 
FORS'TER (George), fon of the preceding, born at 
Dantzic, in 1754, and came over with his father to Eng¬ 
land, when about twelve years of age. He ftudied fome 
time in the academy of Warrington ; and foon acquired a 
perfect life of the Engliffi tongue. He diffinguiflied him¬ 
felf greatly alfo by his attainments in fcience and litera¬ 
ture in general, as he pofleffed an excellent memory, with 
quick parts and a fertile imagination. He accompanied 
his father round the world with captain Cook; and on 
quitting England, as mentioned in the preceding article, 
was defirous of fettling in France. He accordingly refided 
fome time at Paris; but in 1779 lie was appointed pro- 
feflor of natural hiftory in the univerfity of Caflel. The 
fenate of Poland having afterwards offered him a chair in 
the univerfity of Wilna, he accepted the invitation but 
though this office was very lucrative, and though the en¬ 
lightened patriots of that country did not negledt to pro¬ 
cure him all the literary afliftance he flood in need of, lie 
could not be long happy in a femi-barbarous nation, in 
which liberty was fuffered to expire under the intrigues 
of Ruilia and Pruffia. He therefore entered into a treaty 
with Catharine II. who, emulous of every fpecies of 
glory, wiflied to diftinguifli her reign by procuring to the 
Ruffian nation the honour of undertaking, after the ex¬ 
ample of England and France, a new voyage of difeovery 
round the world ; but unfortunately for the progrefs of 
fcience, the War with the Ottoman Porte difappoinled 
Forfter’s hopes, and prevented the execution of this ufe- 
ful project. Forfter, however, could nor long remain in 
obfciuity, as the different publications with which lie 
had enriched natural hiftory and literature had increafed 
his reputation. The elector of Mentz appointed him 
prefident of the univerfity of the fame name, and he was 
difeharging the duties of his office when the French troops 
took polfeffion of that city. This pliilofopliical traveller, 
who had ftudied fociety under all the various afpects 
arifing from different degrees of civilifation, beheld with 
enthufiafm the dawnings of the French revolution, and 
was among the fir (1 to promulgate republicanifm in Ger¬ 
many. The people of Mentz, who had formed them- 
felves into a national convention, fent him to Paris to re- 
queft that they might be united to the French republic; 
but whiIff employed on this million, the city of,Mentz 
was befieged and retaken by the Prullian troops. This 
event occalioned the lofs of all his property, and what 
was (till more difaftrous, of his numerous maiiufcripts, 
which fell into the hands of the prince of Pruffia. Having 
afterwards experienced fome domeftic uneafmefs of the 
conjugal kind, he refol ved to undertake a journey to Tibet 
and Hindooftau, for which lie made preparations by Undy¬ 
ing the oriental languages; hut the chagrin occafioned 
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