Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/639

Rh the young advocate John Reuchlin, who lectured on Greek at the university and took his degree of doctor of laws. Count Eberhard conceived a great liking for him, appointed him his private secretary, and named him councillor. In the spring of 1482 Eberhard, accompanied by Reuchlin, visited Rome, had an audience of Pope Sixtus IV., and received from him the Golden Rose. On his return he visited Florence, and enjoyed the society of _the group of scholars gathered around Lorenzo de Medici. It was in the same year that Eberhard, by the treaty of Minzingen, put an end to the evils which had arisen from a division of the county made in 1437 between his father and his uncle Ulrich, as representatives of the two lines of Urach and Stuttgart, and secured the future indivisibility of Wiirtemberg, and the right of primogeniture in his own family. The treaty was made under the guarantee of the empire, and was sanctioned by an assembly of prelates, knights, and landed proprietors. By a limitation of the power of the prince agreed to at the same time, Count Eberhard became the foundsr of the constitution of Wiirtemberg. He made Stuttgart his place of residence, and retained Reuchlin in his service till his own death. Eberhard sympathized with the desire that was daily strengthening for a thorough reformation in the church ; and in his own dominions he rendered great services by his regulation of convents. Some of these institutions he secularized. Though a lover of peace, he knew how to bear the sword when war was necessary ; and by his courage, wisdom, and fidelity to his engagements he secured the esteem and friendship of the emperors Frederick III. and Maximilian I, as well as that of other princes of his time. He was one of the leading members of the Grand Swabiau League formed in 1488, and took part in the liberation of Maximilian, then king of the Romans, from his imprisonment at Bruges. In recognition of his great services the emperor at his first diet, held at Worms in 1495, raised Eberhard, without any solicitation on his part, to the dignity of duke, confirming at the same time all the possessions and prerogatives of his house. Duke Eberhard did not live long to enjoy his new dignity. He died at Tubingen on the 25th of February 1496. He had two children by his marriage ; but these died in their infancy, and with him the line of Urach became extinct.  EBERHARD, (1769-1845), a German poet and miscellaneous writer, was born at Belzig, near Wittenberg, in 1769, and died at Dresden on the 13th May 1845. He studied theology at Leipsic ; but some stories he contributed to periodicals having proved success ful, he devoted himself to literature. Among his earlier works were Ida s Blumenkorbchen (1792) ; List um List, oder ivas ein Kuss nicht vermag; Ferdinand Werner, der arme Fldtenspieler(lS02); Prinz Fet Elof (1804); and Ischariot Krall s Lehren und Thaten (1807). For a time he was associated with Becker in the editorship of his Taschenbuch and his Erhohingen, for both of which he wrote numerous tales and sketches. His claim to permanent literary fame, however, depends almost exclusively on bis Hannchen und die Kucldein (1822), a charmingly graceful narrative poem in ten parts, which has passed through many editions, and been translated into most of the languages of Europe. An English translation by James Cochrane was published in 1854. In his Der Erste Mensch und die Erde (1828), a poem written in hexameters, the narrative of the creation is given with dignity and spirit. After the death of Vater in 1826, Eberhard succeeded to the editorship of the Jahrbu.ch der hduslichen Andackt, a well-known German educational annual. The miscellaneous poems (Vermischte Gedichte) of Eberhard appeared in two volumes in 1833, and his collected works (Gesammelten /Sckriften) in 20 volumes in 1830-1.  EBERHARD, (1739-1809), an eminent German theologian and philosopher, was born at Halberstadt, in Lower Saxony, August 31, 1739. His father, a man of considerable literary attainments, was the singing-master at the church of St Martin s in that town, and also teacher of the school of the same name. Young Eberhard was educated partly at home and partly in his father s school. In the seventeenth year of his age he went to the university of Halle to study theology. Towards the end of 1759 he returned to his native town, and became tutor to the eldest son of the Baron Von der Horst, to whose family he attached himself for a number of years. In 1763 he was appointed con-rector of the school of St Martin s, and second preacher in the Hospital Church of the Holy Ghost ; but he soon afterwards resigned these offices, and followed his patron to Berlin. The advantage he enjoyed of being introduced by the baron into the best company tended to polish his manners, and to form, even at an early period, a style of writing which served as a model to many of his contemporaries. His residence at Berlin gave him an opportunity of extending his knowledge, and of cultivating the acquaintance of some of the most eminent literary men in Germany. Amongst these were Nicolai and Moses Mendelssohn, with whom he associated upon terms of intimate friendship. In 1768 he accepted the situation of preacher or chaplain to the workhouse at Berlin, along with that of preacher in the neighbouring fishing village of Stralow. The income from these livings was small ; but his object was to continue at Berlin, and he had at the same time the promise of further preferment upon the first vacancy. He now applied with renewed ardour to the study of theology, philosophy, and history, the first fruits of which soon appeared in his Neue Apologie des Socrates (1772), a work occasioned by an attack which was made on the sentiments contained in the fifteenth chapter of MarmontePs Belisarius by Peter Hofstede, a clergyman of Rotterdam, who, with a mis directed industry, raked up the vices of the most celebrated characters in the pagan world, and maintained the patriotic view that even their virtues were only splendida peccata. Eberhard stated the arguments for the broader view with great acuteness and learning, and is therefore entitled lo rank as one of the founders of rationalistic theology in Germany. The Apology itself, which constitutes but a small part of the book, is esteemed a master-piece of clear, dignified, and persuasive eloquence. The whole work exhibits much reading and philosophical reflection ; but the liberality of his reasoning gave great offence to many of the strictly orthodox divines of his time, and is believed to have obstructed his preferment in the church. In 1774 he was appointed to the living of Charlottenburg ; and he employed the leisure he had in this situation in preparing a second volume of his Apology, which appeared in 1778. In this he not only endeavours to obviate some objections which were taken to the former part, but con tinues his inquiries into the doctrines of the Christian religion, religious toleration, and the proper rules for inter preting the Scriptures. Perceiving that his further pro motion in the church would be attended with difficulty, he resolved, although reluctantly, to accept the situation of professor of philosophy at the university of Halle, which became vacant in 1778 by the death of G. F. Moier. As an academical teacher, however, he was unsuccessful. His powers as an original thinker were not equal to his learning and his literary gifts, as was shown in his opposition to the philosophy of Kant. On his arrival at Halle, the philosophical faculty presented him with a diploma as dector in philosophy and master of arts. In 1786 he was admitted a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences ; and in 1 805 the king of 