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338 
great writers. Not to mention the un- 
fought-for teftimonies of honour he receiv- 
ed trom the great, which may often be an 
effort for obtaining meretricious applaufe, 
he experienced from the learned through- 
out Germany,and in other countries, marks 
of efteem that bordered.on veneration. 
His principles were made the fubject of 
univerfal inveftigation, and gained many 
adherents. In the wniverfities of Jena, 
Halle, Gittingen, Erlangen, &c. lectures 
were delivered om his fyftem : many beoks 
alfo were written by his advocates to illuf- 
trate and defend his doctrines. 
were fent at the requeft and expence of dif- 
ferent Princes to learn more minutely, by a 
perfona!] conference with him, what had 
not been elucidated with fofficient clear- 
nefs in his books. . His letures were con- 
fiantly attended by crowded audiences of 
young admirers, and* not unfrequently by 
perfons far advanced both in years arid 
knowledge. Even in the Catholic uni- 
verfities’ his principles found admnt- 
tance. Profeflor Reufs in Werzburg, 
Dorch and Blau in Menz, with fome 
others, made the Kantean philofophy the 
ground-work of their lectures. There 
were, befidesy individuals among the Jews, 
who ftudied and embraced his tenets. He 
was, however, not without his opponents; 
among the moft rational of whom might 
be reckoned, Herder, Eberhard, and other 
eftiimable writers. It may be fairly fop- 
pofed that the number of irrational, illi- 
beral, timid, and bigotted, who oppofed 
him from envy, ignorance, and narrow- 
mindednefs, was {till greaver. 
The charaéter of his writings and his 
fentiments in general were very ‘fimilar to 
thofe of Dr. Prieftley. Truth was the ob- 
jett of his fearch; and liberality of fenti- 
raent was the refult. He wifhed to eftab- 
ith all human knowledge on the firm bafis 
of yeafon, and rejeéted therefore all prin- 
ciples as vifionary which did not admit of 
a fundamental explication. He cenceived, 
however, of religion as an inherent qualury 
of our fouls, which panted after fomehigh— 
er obje&t than this trarfirory exiltence. It 
demanded no proof from without, it flow- 
ed of itfelf from within otrfelves. From 
this view of the fubje&t he was accufed by 
fome of myttici‘m, while others thought 
they faw in his de€trine that which was 
Thus much, 
however, is certain from the-teltimony of 
‘his beft friends and the whole tenor uf his 
works, that -he was a firm believer in the 
Deity, a future fate, and chriftianity. If 
he did not attend to the practical part of 
religion, this ariginated in his own private 
Se 
Ademoirs of Immanuel Kant. 
-Proteffors- 
[May 1, 
views of thofe matters rather than in any ~ 
difregard - of facred ordicances. 
He 
thought, by a life of good deeds, to do 
more honour to the Almighty than by 
the fimple compliance with human infti- 
tutions. : i 
His poliical creed fubjzGed him to ftill 
‘more cenfure than his metaphyfical (énti- 
ments ; although, perhaps, with as little 
juftice. Heo-was a citizen of the world, 
but at the fime time a friend to peace and 
good order. He ackacwledged the equal 
rights of all men as originally born free, 
but he deprecated every violent effort 
which was made to acquire that freedom; - 
and im his own private conduc hewealways 
teftified due’ refpect and fubmiffion to ef- 
‘tablifhed authorities. 
Kant’s intellectual qualifications were 
by no means of an ordinary ftamp. He 
poffefied an extraordinary faculty of se- 
taining words and reprefenting abfent 
things to himfelf. He often cited long 
paflages from ancient and modern writers, 
particularly his favourite pocts, Horace 
and Virgil, Hagedorn and Burger. He 
could defcribe objects that he had read of 
in bocks even better thin many who had 
feen them: thus, for example, he once 
gave-a defcription, in the prefence of a 
Londoner, of Wettminiter-bridge, ac. 
cording to its form and ftruéture, length, — 
breadth, height, and dimenfiens of all its 
parts, fo that the Englifhman enquired” 
how many years he had been in London, 
and whether he had dedicated himfelf to 
architeéture ; upon which he was affured, 
that Kant had neither pafled the bounda~ 
ries of Pruffia nor had been an arebiteét. 
A fimilar queftion was put to him by Bry- 
done, to whom he un‘olded in converfa-. 
tion all the relative fituations of Naly.— 
By the aid of his quick obfervation and 
clear conception, he was enabled to con- 
verfe with admirable accuracy on chemi- 
cal experiments, altheugh he had never 
once witnefled any procefs in chemittry, 
and did not begin the theoretical ftudy 
till after the fixtieth year of his age. 
Hagen, the great chemiit, could not for- 
bear expreffing his perfect aftonifhment, 
while converling with Kant at dinner on 
the fubject, to find any one able, by imple 
Yeading, to make himleif fuch a perfect 
mafter of a {cience fo difficult. This 
happy talent, combined =with general » 
reading, rendered him an univerfal icholar, | 
fo that at length there was no fcience in 
which he was not a proficient. The con- 
fequence of having {uch a happy memory | 
was, that he fet no value on an extenfive 
library. The contents of books were his — 
\ only 
Dr.~. 
