® ; 
1810.) 
profession, and he made a progress in 
classical acquirements, commensurate 
with their solicitude. But his curiosity 
strayed into bolder investigations than 
were suited to his intended employment; 
and by the study of Brucker’s History of 
Philosophy, Bayle’s Dictionary, and 
Spinoza’s works, he attained a state of 
mind which indisposed him to con- 
formity. 
When the time for decision arrived, he 
declined stooping to ordination. His 
family, who could with difficulty afford 
the expense of his education, progres- 
sively withdrew their assistance; but 
confident in his intellectual resources, 
he expected a liberal maintenance by 
writing for the booksellers at Berlin. 
His earlier literary efforts were anony- 
mous, and concealed in various perio- 
dical publications; at length he adver- 
tised a dissertation on the propriety of 
abolishing public prayer. He con- 
tended, that it was absurd to suppose 
the laws of nature would be suspended 
for the contradictory requests of men; 
and that if prayer was notoriously fruit- 
less, there was little sense in continuing 
the symphony, The book was reviewed, 
abused as atheistical, and the poor au- 
thor, out of employ, fell into extreme 
want. | 
On the 14th of January, 1774, being 
then about five and thirty, he attempted 
Original Letters. 
435 
to destroy himself with a pen-knife ; but, 
not succeeding, he determined on the 
slower process of voluntarily starving 
himself. 
Mendelsohn, Hagen, Nicolai, and 
other. humane men, visited him, and 
endeavoured to awaken the love of life, 
Independence, or insanity, gave a franks’ 
ness to his discourse, which enabled them 
to succeed. They induced prince Henry 
of Prussia to leave his card, and carried 
word to poor Driess, that he might be 
appointed lecturer to his reyal Highness. 
’ Driess now accepted nourishment, and 
recovered. Prince Henry allotted hiin a 
stipend; and indicated certain days for 
his attendance in the library. Life had 
again charms, while the dream of ambi- 
tion could endure. He wemt in new 
clothes to thank Mendelsohn for his kind- 
ness, and to consult him about winning 
further trophies from superstition. : 
The humanity of the prince had given 
an audience, but intended no acquain- 
tanee. (The next work of Driess, which 
defended suicide, was as unpopular as 
the last.’. Another attack of hypochone 
driasis came on, which necessitated his 
removal to a public mad-house, where he 
beat out his brains against the wall sor 
want of any implement of destruction. 
Free-thinking has its martyrs as well 
as superstition, and this was one of them, 
- ORIGINAL LETTERS. 
emma 
BINS. MONTAGUE (0 LORD KAIMES, 
Sandleford, October 27th, 1773. 
MY LORD, 
ITH the history of man, I dare 
say, your lordship has written 
the history of woman. I beg that, in spe- 
cifying their characters, you would take 
notice, that time and separation do not 
operate on the female heart as they do 
on that of the male. We need not go 
back so far as the time of Ulysses and 
Penelope, to prove this. We may pass 
over the instances of his dalliance with 
the sole suitor that addressed him, the 
lovely Calypso, and the constant Pene- 
lope’s continued disdain of the whole 
irain of pertinacious wooers. 
The more near and recent an example 
is the better ; so my lord we will take our 
own times, You feel, you say, when 
you take up your pen to write to me, the 
same formality as on our first acquain- 
tance, I on the contrary find, that my 
Montury Mag, No, 206, . 
confidence in you has had time to take 
root. A long winter cannot blast, dreary 
seasons cannot wither, it. Under its 
shadow I ami protected from any appre» 
hensions from your genius and learning. 
You appear to me in no character but 
that of my friend, and in the sacred cha- 
racter of my old friend. The years of 
absence, the months of vacation, in our 
Correspondence come into the account, . 
for | remembered you when I did not 
hear from you, I thought of, when I did 
not see, you. Esteem, nursed by faith- 
ful remembrance, grew up without inter- 
WISSICh,. 
I am most sincerely rejoiced that your 
lordship has completed your great work. 
May vou long enjoy the fame, and may 
you see mankind derive advantage as 
well as pleasure from your labour. The 
more man understaads himself, the less 
averse will he be to those divine and bus 
man laws that restrain his licentious ap- 
3K ‘petites 
