F. PASSOW TO HUDTWALKER, OF HAMBURG. * * I attend the following lectures;—in theology, the interpretation of the New Testament, with Beck; church history, with Rosenmüller; and Arabic, with the younger Rosenmüller: in philosophy, a systematic outline of the theories of Kant, Fichte, and Schelling, with Gesner; and a Latin disputation under Beck: in philology, Polybius, with Beck; Cicero de Legibus, with the same; and Oedipus Rex, with Hermann. Besides, I am a member of Beck's Latin, and Hermann's Philological Society, before the latter of which I am to read an exercise on the Ajax of Sophocles. For Beck's Latin Society I am, at present, preparing a commentary on the twenty-third idyl of Theocritus. As to the rest, Beck is something of a humdrum character, but Hermann is a splendid fellow, if he did not smoke quite so much tobacco. Lately, he used up thirty-six pipes over the Iliad, in a single day! When I called on him the first time, he talked with me, standing; but when he heard that I came from Gotha, he at once shoved me a chair, which struck me so drolly, that I began to laugh. It struck him, too, as a little funny, and so we both set up a loud shout! I have one favor to ask of you, which you will much oblige me by granting. Jacobs has written, in his copy of Brunck's Sophocles, a number of conjectures by himself, Wakefield, and others. Can you not, under some pretext or other, borrow his book,-for it would not take you more than an hour to copy them all out,—and send me every thing that you can find in the margin? If you should consent to do me this favor, I wish you would give me the very words, and even the Greek accents of Jacobs. This must be done with great accuracy, you know. I will gladly do as much for you some time. I could, for instance, if Jacobs should lecture on King Oedipus next term, send you a good supply of conjectures from Hermann, which have never been published. PASSOW TO ERNEST BREEM. Leipsic, Nov. 20, 1804. Each * * * That I should keenly feel the difference between Leipsic and my beloved Gotha, was to be expected, as a matter of course. *** But I shall not allow external circumstances to shorten my stay here, which is important to me, especially with respect to the practical exercises in the two languages. * * Beck is, unquestionably, the first theologian here; he possesses an immense amount of theological, philological, and historical learning, well digested and arranged. But it is impossible to conceive of a colder man; and this lifeless manner, unhappily, appears in every word he utters. *** The exercises in his Latin Society are particularly valuable to me. member, twelve in all, selects a classic author for his examination, and hands in to the professor, in single sheets, as fast as they are prepared, his comments written in Latin. Every member takes his turn, once in six weeks, and reads his commentary before the Society, where it is freely criticised, and the topics involved discussed at large by all the members. I have selected for my exercises, as comprehending the system of Platonic love, the Symposia of Xenophon and of Plato, Phaedrus, and a part of Maximus Tyrius. Professor Hermann, from whom I am hearing a grand course of lectures on the Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, has received me into his Philological Society, which is on the same plan as Beck's, except that speaking and writing Greek are included. In his Society, I interpret the Ajax and the Trachiniae of Sophocles. Hermann, who has just published an edition of Orpheus, and is now preparing a huge commentary on the Agamemnon of Æschylus, is exactly the opposite of Beck, and has many remote resemblances to Jacobs, only he becomes communicative as soon as you know him. He always enters his lecture-room in full riding-dress, with spurs and whip; and in the Philological Society, a stranger would scarce know who presided, but for the exhaustless stores of the professor's learning; for one is very much at his ease with him, and he has still a very youthful look, being but thirty-two years old. He is the only professor that is universally beloved, notwithstanding he sometimes deals in biting sarcasm. PASSOW TO F. JACOBS, IN MUNICH. Weimar, Dec. 27, 1808. * * My first concern, and that which tasked all my powers, was the new organization of the gymnasium, which has just been effected. I had given occasion to this change, by a written communication made to the duke, respecting the condition of the institution. To me, this change was the more gratifying, as it created a new professorship, which could be offered to my particular friend, Schulze, also of Mecklenburg, and a disciple of Wolf. Similarity in age, studies, views, and plans of life, had long before bound me in close ties with this young man of talent and various culture, and nothing could be more welcome to my feelings, than an opportunity to unite with him in a common enterprise. It was natural, therefore, that I should do every thing to secure his services here, so that we might work together, mutually aiding, encouraging, and stimulating each other; and I have the inexpressible joy to see, that my friend is duly estimated here, and that he has been appointed as my associate. Our first business will be to form a selecta,-not as in Gotha, where such a class exists in name merely, and for show, and is nothing more than the more modest prima of other gymnasia, the class from which students go to the university. Such a prima we have already, and we are not ambitious to exchange the name for one of more pretension. But we have perceived the necessity of forming a distinct class for those students who have higher aims than that of merely getting a living, who are seeking for literary distinction, and who feel impelled to make extraordinary efforts of their own. Only those, therefore, who are already fitted for the university, and who wish to go beyond what is indispensable to enter, will be received as members of our selecta. The majority of our students will, as heretofore, go directly from the prima to the university; and it will be no dishonor, not to have passed through the selecta; for one can be a very good scholar, and yet not be fitted for the peculiar exercises of this class. From what I have said, it will be apparent, that the scientific studies must be brought to a close in the prima, and that, for the selecta, nothing but philology be reserved. Of the Latin course I will say nothing now. But of the Greek, which Schulze and myself are to conduct, and which we have got entirely into our own hands, for we thought it necessary to have our work all of a piece,-I will give you the plan. In the lowest class, the quarta, the mechanical part, the reading will be attended to. Under this, however, we include something more than the knowledge of letters. We teach our pupils not only to read with facility, but, more particularly, to read with accuracy and propriety. This class, therefore, is made sufficiently acquainted with the rules of prosody, to pronounce any word with perfect accuracy, and to acquire a perception of harmony and rhythm; for these are to eloquence what form is to the arts of design. With these outlines, we, of course, combine so much of the doctrine of accents as is necessary to correct pronunciation. That, in grammar, the ground may not be wholly unbroken, we instruct this class also, in the septem partes orationis, as they are called. General grammar is almost universally neglected in the lower classes of our gymnasia, and, by declining nouns and conjugating verbs, before knowing what a noun or a verb is, the minds of boys are greatly confused. We endeavor to protect our young Grecians against such disorder. When a boy has mastered all these, he enters the tertia. In this class, all the grammatical forms of the language are taught after Buttmann's excellent Grammar, and my friend Thiersch's Tables of the Greek Verb, in courses which extend through half the year. In order to unite practice with theory, we take up the first course of your Greek Reader, which is the more convenient, as its references are to Buttmann's Grammar. With the same class we make easy experiments in translating from German into Greek, which, however, is not done in writing, but orally and extemporaneously, as all the tasks in this class ought to be easy and interesting. When the students are furnished with a complete knowledge of grammatical forms, they pass into the secunda, and read your second course, and the Odyssey. In grammar, the formation and derivation of words are chiefly attended to; and we design that the boys of this class shall not only be able to give all the rules of formation from primitives, but that they shall know by heart all the primitives of the language. It is with reference to these etymological exercises, that the Odyssey is selected to be read. The oral exercises in constructing Greek phrases are continued in this class. In the prima, we read the Iliad and one of the writings of Xenophon, at present the Memorabilia, and connect with the latter the study of syntax. It is on account of the syntax, that we have preferred the elegant Athenian to Herodotus, or any other writer. The dialects |