informed me, also, that Mitscherlich could not expect that professorship, and that Wunderlich was your pupil ;— he, therefore, cannot complain. In short, I thought you would accept the place, diis hominibusque approbantibus, unless you have other objections than those you mentioned to me. * * SCHÜTZ TO JACOBS. Halle, Sept. 28, 1812. My respected and dear friend,—I have read your letter with mingled feelings of pleasure and pain, and sit down without delay, to attempt to lead you to a different conclusion. * * I can think of only the following objections to your accepting. 1. The envy which will be excited among the established philological professors in the university. None but Mitscherlich, however, could cherish such feelings, and he is said to be free from envy. Wunderlich must be a strange fellow, indeed, if he should feel injured by your appointment. As the government will undoubtedly appoint a man from abroad, no one can be more acceptable to the professors than yourself. 2. The inconceivable, I had almost said, the unpardonable, diffidence you have in your own powers. This I could not comprehend when I desired you to come to Jena. But since then, how many years have passed, and how much reputation have you justly earned! What part of that professorship can give you the least anxiety? Public speaking in the lectures? Certainly not. Heyne himself, it is said, was no model in public speaking; he was discursive, unconnected, and his voice was interrupted by a frequent hemming. But you know all this better than I, who have never heard him. Speaking in Latin? What great use is made of that? I could never think of such a difficulty, at least in you, had you yourself not * * mentioned it as an objection to coming to Jena. The lectures before the Society, and the Programms? Of the former, you have delivered many in Munich; and the latter will be no great jugglery to you. G. SCHÄFER TO SCHÜTZ. Leipsic, Feb. 11, 1808. Very dear sir, I have designedly put off writing thus far in reply to your kind letter. I would gladly delay longer yet, were it not for the apprehension that you might take it ill. What I have now to say is not cheering. But with painful impatience I am expecting every hour to learn something very cheering. Why does the carrier delay? Surely I have been tortured sufficiently long. The intelligence from Gotha was only half true. Without my knowledge, the noble and venerable Heyne, moved by the accounts which a third person had given him of me and my university relations, employed his whole influence with youthful zeal to procure me a place in Gotha. It was believed in Gotha, that every thing was already secured for me there, when my dear old friend, Eichstaedt-upset the matter. I am now informed that the place will be left vacant for the present. But the failure of the project did not discourage the venerable Heyne. He proposes another way. A week ago I received from him a letter of high import, which is now in Dresden, producing its effect. Yesterday, I suppose, the matter was discussed in council;-God grant that the discussions may have led to a happy result. I hope something good from this; never were the circumstances so favorable. Böttiger, also, is doing what he can for me. As soon as I learn the result, I will write you. Now what say you of Heyne? I repeat it, without my knowledge, without being requested, connected directly with me in no way whatever, he is exerting himself for me under the greatest difficulties, and in the midst of bodily sufferings. So writes one from abroad, who, as a spectator, has observed the course things have taken, and must have searched Eichstaedt's tricks to the very bottom. What an eve closes this busy life! Perhaps I can by to-morrow write something more pleasant. Farewell, my dear friend, and continue to favor me with your good-will. SCHÄFER TO SCHÜTZ. Leipsic, March 25, 1808. I have received official notice from Dresden, that I have been appointed professor extraordinarius of philosophy, with a salary of 150 rix dollars, and that, besides this a bounty of 100 rix dollars has been granted me. The day after the official notice was sent, the members of the larger Royal College proceeded to the choice of a successor of the excellent Hindenburg. The impression already made at Dresden, operated in my favor to such a degree, that there was a tie in the vote between me and a competitor. Lots were cast, and I was the lucky one. Thus, as if by the stroke of a magic wand, I am pushed forward into new connections, which enable me to hope for a different and a more pleasant life. I can now calculate upon a salary of about 450 rix dollars, provided the choice of the college should be confirmed by the king, of which there is a strong probability. And still the choice of professor Clodius in the place of Seidlitz, made in January, is not yet confirmed. If you say any thing of my sudden change to a better condition, I beg you, to add every time, that I am indebted for this happiness to that venerable old man in Göttingen. Before this scholar I bow with profound respect. A miserable trade of words is all our study, even with a Bentley's acuteness, or a Porson's nicety, if it does not ennoble whatever is human in us. That I think of you, with the most sacred attachment, my dear sir, whenever I think of Heyne, I need not assure you, who have more than once looked into my heart. SCHÄFER TO SCHÜTZ. Leipsic, Dec. 1, 1811. O how The melancholy intelligence of Bast's death I had also already received from Schöll, last Tuesday. deeply is my heart smitten by this event! Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit, Nulli flebilior quam mihi! A His last letter to me was dated November 2d, full of unsurpassed kindness, as were all his letters; and I was just on the point of replying, as this startling news reached me. Our studies have lost much, very much in him; and I more than can be expressed. I had succeeded in gaining his entire confidence. Through me, and in connection with me, as it seemed, he designed to communicate all his literary treasures to the public. beginning was to be made with the unpublished Greek lexicons, printing to commence the present winter. With what an exuberance of excellent remarks could I have filled them out, inasmuch as the papers of my friend would have been at my service. All this is now but the "shadow of a dream." For what fortunes will his collections meet with? This thought gives me great uneasiness. If he had had only one hour, one single hour of consciousness after the shock, I know what disposition he would have made of them. In order to save what could be saved, I wrote immediately to Paris, requesting that those valuable papers might be entrusted to my charge, and referring to our correspondence in support of my claim. Will it be of any use? Can you do any thing? The heir is a brother, with whom I have no acquaintance. Perhaps Schöll can effect something, and, therefore, I have written to him. As a scholar, that excellent man was every thing to me, and as a man, if possible, still more. What he could do, he did, both directly and indirectly, to improve my condition. If he had succeeded in his plan, I should have acted my part at the close of life in the midst of an enviable abundance of literary treasures, in a milder climate, and in more friendly relations. But this also is the "shadow of a dream." The name of Bast, like the dear names of Schütz and Heyne, is indelibly inscribed on my heart. Ever yours, most devotedly. SCHÄFER TO SCHÜTZ. Leipsic, Dec. 15, 1813. * Thus far I have got along very well, and every thing seems now to indicate that I ought to reserve myself for better days. From the 16th to the 19th of October, especially the 19th, when the storming Prussians were plying their cannon and their small arms at a horrid rate against my house, were such days as I never passed before. One twelve-pounder broke through a pretty thick wall; and the shock of a stone from the wall drove my study-table a good jog. *** Napoleon, according to all accounts, is rallying all the forces he can muster, and as long as he can get a single battalion, he will fight. But with such preparations as the allied armies are making, there can be no doubt as to the final result. * * 17* |