age. In the selection of words and phrases, he disliked to come down even to the time of Seneca. He followed no single model in his style, but endeavored to combine the gravity, force, copiousness and majesty of Cicero, with the gentleness, ease, native and simple grace of Nepos.

The literary correspondence of Ruhnken was extensive. The kindness of his heart was exhibited in a thousand cases by his replies to the inquiries of those who were total strangers, by giving personal counsels to all who applied, and by the donation of notes and papers, which he had prepared with much labor, to those who were publishing classical works. Among his foreign correspondents were Gesner, Ernesti, Heyne, Heusinger, Musgrave, Toup, Villoison, Hottinger, Schweighäuser, Brunck, Matthiae, Voss, De Rossi, Burgess, Porson, Wolf and Spalding.

Among the moral qualities of Ruhnken was frankness. He spoke out what he thought. He was so entirely free from vanity, that he appeared less learned than many others, while, at the same time, he had a thorough knowledge of his own capacities and acquirements. In a conversation with his friends, allusion was made to the great merits of Villoison. "True," replied Ruhnken, "Villoison is an accomplished young man, but he ought to have come here, and attended the instructions of myself and Valckenaer." This remark appeared to savor of pride, yet it was nothing but the candid expression of his own consciousness. It reminds one of the saying of Chrysippus, the Stoic, who, being asked by a friend, to whom he should entrust the education of his son, replied, “To me, for if I knew any one better than I am, I would place myself under his care."

Ruhnken's character was remarkably consistent. His gentle feelings shone out on all occasions. In social

intercourse, no one could be more affable and urbane than James Gronovius; but when he took up his pen, there was a total transformation; like Milton's Moloch, "his sentence was for open war." So of professor Schrader. In the intercourse of daily life, he was modest to an extreme; but in emending a book, none could wrangle better than he. He would collect the mistakes of distinguished scholars, even on the quantity of syllables, and show them off in triumph. Ruhnken did not think it right to pass in silence the errors of great men; he would rather correct them, on account of the greater injury that would ensue, through the celebrity of their authors. Still, he grieved at the necessity. He did not divest himself of the feelings of a brother, when he assumed the critical office. He never exulted in detecting a mistake, as if he were to acquire laurels in such an insignificant business.

Yet, though Ruhnken was mild in his manners, possibly to a fault, he could ill bear the vanity and pedantic affectation, which he was sometimes compelled to encounter. On one occasion, he received a visit from a Swede, a man of learning, but excessively troublesome, whose unseasonable calls reminded the Leyden professors of an irruption of the old northern barbarians. Ruhnken, while showing him the library, opened a case, which contained the manuscripts of Joseph Scaliger. "Hic est ille vir expectans judicium,” exclaimed the Swede, alluding to the inscription on Scaliger's tomb. At the same time, he stoutly argued, that Scaliger was no critic. "Begone with your stupidity," thundered Ruhnken suddenly in his ears, at the same moment pushing in the lid of the case of manuscripts. The northman fled in terror. another occasion, a German professor, who was inflated with self-esteem, asked Ruhnken to show him the library, at the same time telling him of some very learned Germans,

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who had written books full of erudition in their vernacular language. "I wish," said Ruhnken, "that they had written in Latin, as Gesner, Ernesti, and Heyne did, so that they might be more read by foreigners." "Are you, then, my good sir," rejoined the stranger, "still involved in the error of supposing, that there will be any more writing of Latin in this age?" Ruhnken, indignant at his self-complacency, added, "Good-by, Mr. Professor, seek some other library, where you may find German books."

Ruhnken was married, when he was forty-one years old, to Mariamne, the youngest daughter of Gerard Heirmans, who had been a merchant in Amsterdam, and a consul in Italy. She was a young lady of rare mental, as well as of personal accomplishments. The severe afflictions which befell her, and her youngest daughter, are mentioned in the correspondence of Wyttenbach, in another part of this volume. Ruhnken bore these sad visitations with much patience and equanimity, though when they first occurred, he was nearly overwhelmed, and was obliged, on several occasions, to leave his lecture-room in a paroxysm of grief. His affections were of the gentlest kind, and remarkably fitted to the happy scenes of domestic life. The virtues and faithful attentions of his eldest daughter contributed much to encourage his desponding heart.

In concluding these notices of Ruhnken's life, it may be added, that reliance has not been placed simply on the testimony of his affectionate biographer and pupil, Wyttenbach. In relation to his rare classical learning, as well as to the better virtues of his heart, there is but one voice. In Germany, and almost at the distance of half a century from his death, his name is mentioned only with respect and admiration.

The friend and biographer of Ruhnken, and one of the most celebrated philologists of Holland, was DANIEL WYTTENBACH. He caught the falling mantle of his master, and carried to the study of antiquity the same intelligence and the same irrepressible enthusiasm. His lectures and his writings have shed an enduring lustre upon the university where he taught, and upon his adopted country. He was born at Berne, in Switzerland, August 7, 1746. One of his ancestors was a teacher of the reformers, Zuingle and Leo Judas. His father was professor of theology, first at Berne, and afterwards at Marburg. His early education appears to have been conducted, almost exclusively, under the paternal roof. He was ten years of age when his father removed to Marburg. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the university of that place, where he spent the four following years. But his peculiar genius was not yet developed. The course of studies was very extensive, and ill-fitted to a youth of the peculiar susceptibilities of Wyttenbach. The professors, though estimable men, were not Gesners nor Heynes. Their instructions appear to have been communicated in a rigid and formal manner, and breathed little of the spirit of genuine scholarship. The elder Wyttenbach was a a man of excellent character, but somewhat stern, and without a particle of that genius which glowed in the bosom of his son. In the treatment of the religious feelings of that son, he showed but little judgment or humanity. No wonder the youth sighed for deliverance. His history at this period is thus described, in the course of some directions, which he subsequently addressed to his pupils.

"When I was in my eighteenth year, I had learned about as much Greek, as you have generally acquired after being with me four months. I had attended the

lectures of the professors, both in literature and in the severer sciences, with no great advantage. I appeared to others to have made progress, but not to myself. I was weary of the toil. I wanted space to soar higher. I returned to my studies, and began to review them privately. Though I had advanced somewhat further than I had gone when attending the lectures of the professors, yet it was in a manner which did not at all correspond to my expectations, and I gave it up in disgust. I proceeded from one study to another in the course, yet all were wearisome and repulsive; and yet, like one whose appetite is disordered, I was continually seeking for some intellectual food. I remembered the pleasure which I had enjoyed, when a boy, in the study of Greek. I searched for the books which I had formerly read. I took out of a corner Plutarch's treatise on the Education of Boys, and read it once and again, with much effort, but little pleasure. Then I went over with Herodian, which afforded me a little more enjoyment, but was far from satisfying my mind. I accidentally found, elsewhere, Xenophon's Memorabilia, Ernesti's edition, which I had before known only by name. I was captivated with the indescribable sweetness of that author. The grounds of it I better understood afterwards. In studying this treatise, I made it a point never to begin a section without re-perusing the preceding; nor a chapter or book, without studying the preceding chapter and book a second time. Having, at length, completed the work in this manner, I again read the whole in course. It occupied me almost three months; but such unceasing repetition was most serviceable to me."

By the help of Ernesti's notes, Wyttenbach acquired some skill in criticism, as well as bibliographical knowledge. He then determined to read the Greek authors in chronological order, and thus lay a foundation