LITERATURE. 
guiflied themfelve* by their oppofltion to the fyflems of 
education then exifting in the German univerfities ; and 
their example was followed by Joh. Amos Comnenius, 
Bafedow, Roufleau, Sec. Academies for the young no¬ 
bility, the fchools of the Jefuits, the electoral fchools of 
Saxony, thole of the monalteries at Wurtemburg, Sec. 
fiucceffively enjoyed great celebrity. We mult not omit 
to mention, towards the clofe of the eighteenth century, 
the fchools for the deaf and dumb ellabliflied at Paris, Vi¬ 
enna, &c. nor the fchools of induftry now fo generally 
prevalent. During this period, were ellablifhed the fol¬ 
lowing univerfities : In Italy, thofe of Medina, Milan, 
Parma, Mantua, Urbino ; in Portugal, Evora ; in Spain, 
Alcala de Henares (Complutum), Granada, Compoltella, 
Baeza, Olfuna, Ofma, Orikuela, Barcelona, Cervera; and 
in Spanilh America, Mexico, Lima, and Caracas; in 
France, Rheims, Douay, Befan^on, Pont-a-Moulfon, Se¬ 
dan, Mollheim, Stralburg, and Pan; in Germany, Frank¬ 
fort on the Oder, Wittenburg, Marburg, Jena, Dillingen, 
Altdorf, Helmftadt, Gratz, Grefen, Rintela, Salzburg, 
Bamberg, Duilburg, Innfpriick, Halle, Fulda, Gottingen, 
Erlangen, Biitzow, Bonn, and Stuttgard ; in Swilferland, 
Geneva and Laufanne, which, though properly fpeaking 
they are not univerfities, were however fo called ; in the 
Netherlands, Leyden, Franeker, Groningen, Utrecht, and 
Harderwyk ; in Great Britain and Ireland, Edinburgh, 
New Aberdeen, and Dublin ; in Hungary, Tyrnau ; in 
Silefia, Brellau 5 in Poland and Lithuania, Wilna, Zamo- 
feia, and Olyka ; in Pruflia, Konigfberg; in Sweden, 
Abo; in Rulfia, Dorpat, Kiow, and Mofcow. There 
were alfo founded in this period a vaft number of academi¬ 
cal gymnafia, colleges, Sec. too numerous to mention ; for 
thefe M. Meufel refers us to Lawatzen’s Handbuck, Go- 
etzii Geographia Academica, Sec. The Jews ellabliflied 
fchools at Sapheta in Palefline, at Conltantinople, and Sa- 
loniki; as well as in feveral parts of Germany, in Poland, 
in the Netherlands, and in England. The Turks too 
have inftituted eleven academies at Conltantinople, each 
confifting of fewer or more colleges, out of which are fup- 
plied the minifters of the church and Hate; more than 
1600 youths are here inltructed, at the expenfe of the 
grand fignior. The number of colleges, or fchools of 
fcience, at Conltantinople all together exceeds 518; befides 
about 1255 inferior feminaries, in which reading, writing, 
and a fort of catechifm, are taught. In proportion as 
collections of books had been hitherto rare, fo much the 
more interefting is M. Meufel’s lilt of public libraries 
eltablilhed in this period in almolt every part of Europe; 
fuffice it, however, for us to obferve, in general, that not 
only every univerfity is now polfelfed of one or more of 
them, but that almolt every town of importance leems to 
partake of this invaluable benefit. 
During the former half of this period, philology con- 
fiituted the great purfuit of the learned, as well as their 
principal fource of dillinCtion. It engrolfed almolt all 
the ability of Europe. In the feventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries, the difeovery of an univerfal philofophical lan¬ 
guage, with correfponding characters, (pafiphrafia, and 
pafigraphia,) exercifed the talents of Wiikins, Leibnitz, 
Wolf, Solbrig, and others. The Jews in the fixteenth 
and feventeenth centuries paid much attention to their 
Hebrew literature, though chiefly, perhaps, to that which 
was rabbinical. The firit printed Hebrew Bible was pub- 
liflied by Dan. Bomberg of Antwerp, at Venice, 1518. 
Bomberg alfo, in 1520, printed the Talmud, which called 
forth the feverelt cenfures from the popes Julius III. and 
Paul IV. In the two following centuries, many learned 
Jews commented on their facred books, and tranllated 
them into the pure German; as alfo into that dialed of 
it which was ufually fpoken by Jews* The moft cele¬ 
brated of thefe commentators were Gozel, Veibfch, (fa¬ 
ther and fon,) Mendelflohn, Euchel, Friedlander, and 
Wolfsfohn. The Chriltians alfo, particularly the pro- 
tellants, have cultivated Hebrew literature, fince the fix¬ 
teenth century, with much greater diligence than for- 
Vol. XII. No. 873. 
309 
merly. At firit, however, they all failed, owing to their 
copying too fervilely the Jewifli fyltem of philology; and 
it was not till the end of the feventeenth and beginning 
of the eighteenth century, that they adopted the more 
rational plan of employing the other oriental languages 
to ill nitrate the Hebrew. They did not flop here; fo na¬ 
turally did the Audy of one tongue feem to lead to that 
of another, that grammars and lexicons of every dialect, 
in any way connected with the feriptures, were loon pub. 
lilhed. This might indeed be called the age of language¬ 
learning ; and the author has given us a kind of cata¬ 
logue raifonne, confiding of fixty pages, and containing 
the names of learned men of all countries, who have beers 
eminent within the lad three centuries for facilitating the 
acquifition, not only of the claflical languages, but of 
every other language that is known to exid. For infor¬ 
mation fo copious, and fo detailed, we mud refer to the 
work itfelf; fince it would be impoflible to do jultice to 
it by any abdraCt. 
In this period, the Audy of hiflory became very gene¬ 
ral; and hi dory itfelf has derived great advantages from 
the increafing culture of claflical literature, and from the 
more enlightened date of general philofophy. One of its 
chief improvements is due to Reinerus Reineccius, a Ger¬ 
man, (profefiorat Helmftadt towards the clofe of the fix¬ 
teenth century,) who firit introduced the practice of mar¬ 
ginally citing his authorities ; indeed, to the Germans in 
general M. Meufel gives the preference for indudrious 
compilation ; though the French, he thinks, from the very 
beginning of this period, bore away the palm for hiftoricalt 
compolition. Various fydems and compendia of univer¬ 
fal hidory were publifhed at an early period, particularly 
by Carion, Melancthon, Sleidan, Cluverius, Bofluet, and 
Cellarius; fince whom Hiibner, Zopf, Gatterer, Schroeckh 9 
Swinton, Sale, Pfalmanazar, Campbell, and Bower, toge¬ 
ther with Rollin and other French writers, have contri¬ 
buted to give to it a more methodical arrangement, as well 
as to difl'eminate a better tafle in the Audy of it. In an¬ 
cient hidory, properly fo called, little more had been done 
than to collect materials, until nearly the middle of the 
eighteenth century; fince which time the Germans have 
to boad their Gatterer, Beck, Remer, and Eichhorn ; the 
Grecian hiflory has been written of late years with great 
ability by Stanyan, Mably, Goldfmith, Denina, Gad, Gil¬ 
lies, and Mitford ; the Roman, by Hooke, Rollin, Cre- 
vier, Macquer, Goldfmith, Gibbon, Beaufort, Fergufon, 
and Stuart. The hidory of the middle ages lay in deep 
obfeurity even till late in the eighteenth century. One 
of the fird and mod clear-lighted authors, who undertook 
to inquire into the general date of the hiflorical world 
during thofe ages, and thence to illudrate the events 
which occurred in them, was Robertfon ; who, in the pre¬ 
face to his Hidory of Charles V. has given a Iketch of the 
progrefs of fociety in Europe, from the downfall of the 
Roman empire to the beginning of the fixteenth century. 
This department of hidory has thence aflumed a very dif- 
fimilar form; men have learnt to inquire into the nature, 
the origin, and the fecret caufes, of events, and to view 
many of them in a different light: dill, however, much 
remains to be done. Kraufe, Koch, and Remer, may on 
this head be perufed with advantage. The hidory of the 
modern dates of Europe has been recorded within the lad 
century under every poflible form of publication. Of 
compendious works, the bed, according to M. Meufel, 
have been written by Germans ; though,at the fame time, 
every nation has feveral of this defeription which pof- 
fefs great merit. For particulars, our readers would do 
well to confult M. Meufel’s lid of authors. 
The knowledge of ecclefiaflical hidory became fo necef- 
fary at the reformation, that the learned of either party 
began to Itudy it with greatly-increafed diligence, accu¬ 
racy, and freedom ; yet it mud be confefied that, till very 
lately, fince toleration has approximated the different 
religious parties, ecclefiaflical hidory was feldom more 
than a furioufly-abufive enumeration of feds and herefies, 
9 W itigmatizing 
