Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/760

714 of Ceres, and a second for an original group. In 1816 he was appointed assistant engraver to the mint, and in 1828 chief engraver; in 1831 he was elected associate and in 1838 full member of the Royal Academy. He executed coinages for George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria, the Peninsular, Trafalgar, and Cabul medals, the William IV. coronation medal, and those of many learned societies. He died at Brighton on October 29, 1851. A memoir, with a list of his works, by Nicholas Carlisle, was privately issued in 1837.  WYTTENBACH, DANIEL ALBERT (1746-1820), a famous classical scholar, was born at Bern, of a family whose nobility and distinction he loved to recall. In par ticular, he was proud of his descent from Thomas Wytten- bach, professor of theology in Basel at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, who numbered the Reformer Zwingli and other distinguished men among his pupils. Wyttenbach s own father was also a theological professor of considerable note, first at Bern, and then at Marburg. His removal to Marburg, which took place in 1756, was partly due to old associations, for the elder Wyttenbach had studied there under the famous Christian Wolff, and embodied the philosophical principles of his master in his own theological teaching. Soon after the Wyttenbachs settled in Germany the great war broke out, and the region around Marburg suffered severely, so that the scenes and excitement of military life must have powerfully affected the growth of the boy s somewhat sensitive character. After a careful preliminary education, partly in the schools of Bern and Marburg, partly by private tutors, and always under the eye of a severe but conscientious and affectionate father, young Wyttenbach entered at the age of fourteen the university of Marburg, and passed through a four years course there. His parents intended that he should become a Lutheran pastor. The first two years were given up to general education, principally to mathematics, &quot;philology,&quot; and history. The professor of mathematics, Spangenberg, acquired great influence over young Wyttenbach. He is said to have taught his subject with great clearness, and with equal seriousness and piety, often referring to God as the supreme mathematician, who had constructed all things by number, measure, and weight. &quot; Philology &quot; in the German univer sities of that age meant Hebrew and Greek. These two languages were generally handled by the same professor, and were taught almost solely to theological students. Wyttenbach s university course at Marburg was troubled about the middle of the time by mental unrest, due to the fascination exercised over him by Bunyan s Pilgrim s Pro gress. Like Bunyan himself, he believed that he was doomed to perdition, and that he had committed the inex piable sin against the Holy Ghost. The disorder was cured by Spangenberg. The principal study of the third year was metaphysics, which took Wyttenbach entirely captive. The fourth and last year was to be devoted to theology and Christian dogma. Wyttenbach had hitherto submitted passively to his father s wishes concerning his career, in the hope that some unexpected occurrence might set him free. But he now turned away from theological lectures, and privately devoted his time to the task of deepening and extending his knowledge of Greek literature. His father was wise enough to leave him to follow his own bent. To use Wyttenbach s own words, he looked up to every Greek book as a temple of wisdom. But the struggle for knowledge was hard, and taxed all his powers. He possessed at the time, as he tells us, no more acquaint ance with Greek than his own pupils at a later time could acquire from him during four months study. He was almost entirely without equipment beyond the bare texts of the authors. Each author only yielded after a pro tracted siege. But Wyttenbach was undaunted, and four years persistent study gave him a knowledge of Greek such as few Germans of that time possessed. His love for philosophy carried him towards the Greek philosophers, especially Plato. He describes himself as walking about the meadows near Marburg, conning portions of his text of Plato, which he had taken to pieces for easier carriage. During this period Ruhnken s notes on the Platonic lexicon of Timieus fell into his hands. Ruhnken was for him al most a superhuman being, whom he worshipped day and night, and with whom he imagined himself as holding converse in the spirit. Taking up the works of Julian, he emended them on the principles of Ruhnken. When Wyttenbach was twenty-two he determined to seek else where the aids to study which Marburg could not afford. His father, fully realizing the strength of his son s pure passion for scholarship, permitted and even advised him to seek Heyne at Gottingen. From this teacher he received the utmost kindness and encouragement, and he was urged by him to dedicate to Ruhnken the first fruits of his scholarship. Wyttenbach therefore set to work on some notes to Julian, Eunapius, and Aristoenetus, and Heyne wrote to Ruhnken to bespeak his favourable consideration for the work. Before it reached him Ruhnken wrote a kind letter to Wyttenbach, which the recipient &quot; read, re-read, and kissed,&quot; and another on receipt of the tract, in which the great scholar declared that he had not looked to find in Germany such knowledge of Greek, such power of criticism, and such mature judgment, especially in one so young. Wyttenbach was now able with boldness to devote himself to the career of a scholar. He studied with ardour the works of the great scholars of the Nether lands, and in his morning and evening petitions prayed that it might be given him to see Valckenaer and Ruhnken in the flesh. By Heyne s advice, he now worked hard at Latin, which he knew far less thoroughly than Greek, and we soon find Heyne praising his progress in Latin style to both Ruhnken and Valckenaer. He now wrote to ask their advice about his scheme of corning to the Netherlands to follow the profession of a scholar. Ruhnken strongly exhorted Wyttenbach to follow his own example, for he too had been designed by his parents for the Christian ministry in Germany, but had settled at Leyden on the invitation of Hemsterhuis. Valckenaer s answer was to the same effect, but he added that Wyttenbach s letter would have been pleasanter to him had it been free from excessive compliments. These letters were forwarded to the elder Wyttenbach, with a strong recommendation from Heyne. The old man had been himself in Leyden in his youth, and entertained an admiration for the scholarship of the Netherlands; so his consent was easily won. Young Wyttenbach reached Leyden in 1770. According to his own description, he approached the gates of the city with a feeling of religious awe such as might have passed over an ancient visitant to Athens and the Acropolis. As he neared Ruhnken s door, the words of Homer &quot;surely there is some god within &quot; were in his mind. He was delighted to find the great man entirely free from the pomposity and assumption which had made many of the German professors disagreeable to him. A year was spent with great contentment, in learning the language of the people, in attending the lectures of the great &quot;duumviri&quot; of Leyden, and in collating MSS. of Plutarch. At the end of 1771 a professor was wanted at Amsterdam for the College of the Remonstrants. By the recommendation of Ruhnken, Wyttenbach obtained the chair, which he filled with great success for eight years. His lectures took a wide range. Those on Greek were repeated also to the students of the university of Amsterdam (the &quot;Athenaeum&quot;). In 1775 a visit was made to Paris, which was fruitful both of new