Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/82

lx him. His is a philosophical temperament, and his style is clear and bright. He has published much original poetry and many translations. Nothing can be farther removed from affectation than his writings, and his verses especially flow like a stream down a gentle declivity. He was born of poor parents at Szent-András, in Soprony. His mother taught him to read, his father to write. When he entered the Soprony Gymnasium, a benevolent German Professor (Schwartner) took much notice of him, and greatly assisted the cultivation of his mind. In his twenty- first year, (1791,) accompanied by a school -fellow, he undertook a pedestrian tour through a great part of Hungary, for the purpose of making the personal acquaintance of the eminent writers of the time. He travelled into Germany, and followed the courses of some of the distinguished Professors of Göttingen and Jena; on his return to Hungary he was made a professor, and elevated to many distinguished offices in the career of education. He was one of the founders of the Magyar Society at Soprony for the cultivation of the poetical literature of Hungary. He obtained the prize which was offered in 1804, by an Hungarian patriot, for the best essay on the cultivation and extension of the Magyar tongue. In