1904. ] 
_ day of her atrival, that great man, feat- 
ing himfelf befide her, {aid that ‘* fome- 
thing was wanting to complete her head- 
drefs,’” and at the {ame time placed on 
her head a wreath of laurel. This inter- 
view was the foundation of a correfpond- 
ence between them, and appears to have 
afforded equal gratification to both parties. 
What.Madame du Boccage was in her 
Letters fhe was in fociety. She poflefled 
the art of being always equal and always 
new; more difpofed to hear than to f{peak; 
as attentive never to cenfure any other 
perfon as not to praife herfelf; always 
accepting delicate praife, and knowing 
how to reply with equal propriety and 
precifion. 
So many geod qualities, together with 
her literary reputation, drew around her, 
upon her return to Paris, a felect number 
of men of letters and fcience. : To aame 
Helvetius, Marmontel, Thomas,- Bailly, 
Condorcet, Barthelemy, from among ma- 
ny others, will be fufficient to give fome 
idea of the aflemblies held at her houfe, 
which was likewife vifited by many fo- 
reigners diftinguifhed by the rank and 
abilities. 
Madame du Boccage was deftined to! 
furvive almoft all her friends. The lofs. 
that mott fenfibly affeSed her was.that.of 
Brequigny, a man of {cience, diltinguifhed 
for his modefty and amiable -difpofition,. 
and who lodged in her houfe. . She, how- 
ever, derived every confolation: fhe was 
capable of receiving from the conftant and, 
affectionate attention of her nephew M. 
Anquetil du Perron. 
She attained an advanced and yet a 
happy old age, by moderation, both men- 
tal and corporeal. All her life was of one 
even tenor. She died in the month of 
Auguf, 1802, aged 92 years. A perfect 
counterpart of Fontenélle: even in her 
lat moments fhe repofed in death as if in 
a {weet flumber. 
To know.Madame du Boccage was to 
love her. Demontftier feems to have ex- 
prefled the fentiments,univerfally enter- 
tained for her in the following beautiful 
lines: 
On regrette le temps paffé fans vous con- 
nditre: 
Combien lon efit joui d’un commerce i doux! 
I] femble que pldcét on auroit-voulu naitre 
Pour avoir le bonheur de vieillir avec vous. 
Lorfqne vers fon dectin le foleil nous éclaire 5 
L’eclat de fes rayons n’en eft point affoibli. 
On eft vieux a vingt ans fi on celle de 
plaire ; 
Et qui plait 4 centans, meurt fans avoir vieilli, 
Memoir of Dietrich Tiedemanti. 
229) 
ACCOUNT of DIETRICH TIEDEMANNs 
COUNSELLOR Gud PROFESSOR of PHI- 
LOSOPHY at MARBURG, 
HE fubje&t of this memoir was born 
the 3d of April, 1748, at Bremer- 
voide, inthe Duchy of Bremen, of which 
place bis'father was burgomafter. Being 
a man of a ferious turn, he would not fuf. 
fer his lon to affociate witn other boys of 
his own. age, but endeavoured to excite in 
him an early fenfs of the important deftin- 
ation of man. He, therefore, paffed the 
greateft’ part of his youth, either alone or 
in the company of his younger brother, 
and foca acquired a great partiality for 
hiftorical and myftical works; though for- 
tunately for him, he could not procure 
many: of the latter defcription. In the 
(chool of his native town he learned the 
firft rudiments of the Latin and Greek lans 
guages, and in confequence of his affiduity 
he madefuch progreis, that even there he 
could compote a Latin effay with fome ele- 
gance. His father, a man of difcernment, 
obferved'in him a capacity for fiudy, but 
Jeft the choice of a profeffion entirely to 
himfelf 5 and- Tiedemann, who at that 
time was delighted with declamation and 
the eloquence of the pulpit, gave the pre- 
ference to the ftudy of divinity. 
As he could not make any farther pro- 
grefsat Bremervorde, his father tent him 
in the autumn of 1763, to the {chocl of 
Verden, ‘where he was immediately placed 
in the firft clats, and particularly devoted 
himielf, for feveral years, to the Rudy of 
languages ; ; for, according to his own con- 
feffion, he did not yet comprehend the 
theological and oop lectures held 
at thar {chool. A teacher of the Frénch 
language rendered him fenfible of she beau- 
ties of the‘beft French writers. After a 
ftay of two years he removed to the Athe- 
nzum of Bremen, which was then diftin- 
guifhed by the diligence and the good 
morals of the pupils, and which exercifed 
‘a very beneficial influence on the cultivae . 
tion of his mind. Among his companions 
were feveral who with zeal occupied them- 
felves with the belles lettres,and particularly 
the German poets ; their converfation to- 
gether with his own inceflant ftudy excited 
in him a tafte for the beautiful. He now 
read the Latin and French poets witha 
very different view from what he had be- 
fore done, and at the fame time ftudied the 
precepts of the moft celebrated teachers of 
good tafte. At Bremen inftructions were 
likewile given in philofophy and hiftory, 
in which, as alfo in reading the beft modern 
philofophical works, Tiedemana took Pe : 
ticular 
