also exhibit to the Faculty proper testimonials of his being in full communion with some church of Christ; in default of which he shall subscribe a declaration of his belief in the Christian religion.

3. Every candidate thus introduced, is to be examined by the Faculty, with reference to his personal piety, his object in pursuing theological studies, his knowledge of the learned languages, of Hebrew Grammar, and of the Hebrew Chrestomathy of Professor Stuart, so far as the extracts from Genesis and Éxodus extend. In cases where the candidate has not been regularly educated at a College, he must also be prepared to sustain an examination in Mathematics, Logic, Rhetoric, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, and Intellectual Philosophy.

4. No candidate will hereafter be examined on any of these particulars, with a view to partial admission to privileges, such as lectures, room, and use of the Library, till he is prepared for examination on the whole. Nor can any one apply for charitable assistance the first year, who is not thus examined and approved within the first three weeks of the year.

5. In every case of application for admission after the regular time, the candidate, besides the usual requisitions at the opening of the year, will be examined on all the studies gone over by the class.

E. PORTER, President.

Theol. Sem. Andover, May 22, 1832.

THE

BIBLICAL REPOSITORY.

No. VIII.

OCTOBER, 1832.

ART. I. THE LIFE OF CARSTEN NIEBUHR, THE ORIENTAL TRAVELLER.

By his Son, B. G. Niebuhr. Translated from the German by the Editor.

INTRODUCTION.

No event in the literary world has had a more direct and important bearing upon the study of the Bible, and the branches of learning connected with it, than the scientific expedition sent out by the king of Denmark to Arabia and the adjacent countries, in 1760. Viewing the subject in this light, I have thought that an account of the origin and progress of that expedition, would not only form an article appropriate to the character and object of this work, but would also afford much useful and interesting information to the student of biblical literature, and to readers in general. For this purpose, nothing seemed so well adapted as the following biography of Niebuhr, the distinguished traveller, written by his no less distinguished son, the historian of Rome.

Out of the five persons, of whom the expedition was originally composed, Niebuhr was the only survivor. Of his qualifications as a scientific traveller, and of the manner in which he executed the task assigned him, it is not now necessary to speak. Time, which tries all things, has tried him fully; and has stamped upon his work the seal of truth, modesty, and completeness. Seventy years have now elapsed, and still no traveller returns from the East, who does not bear testimony to the accuracy and fulness of his descriptions; who does not indeed regard his work as still the best guide-book for those who visit the same regions. The generation of men with whom he had Vol. II. No. 8.

75

to do, have indeed passed away; but the manners and customs of the people, and above all the aspects and character both of the civil and physical geography of the East, remain unchang

ed.

Revolutions like those of Europe, which affect the private life and manners of the people, as well as the external appearance of countries and the political relations of states, are there almost unknown; and hence the descriptions of Niebuhr are at the present day, for the most part, as minutely accurate, as at the time when they were written. In the strong and apothegmatic language of the celebrated Johannes von Müller, it may be truly said of Niebuhr: "What a name among travellers! the man who tells nothing which he did not see; and what he saw, saw as it is!"*

Of the writer of the following article, it is here necessary strictly to say little, in addition to the occasional notices of his early life, which are scattered through the article itself. But as very little is known in this country of his career, the following outline of his life may not be unacceptable. He first studied (1793) at the university of Kiel, resided afterwards (1795) a year and a half at Edinburgh, and travelled for six months more in England. His professional studies were jurisprudence and finance; his taste led him more to history. He was employed at Copenhagen in the service of the Danish government, and was for a time one of the directors of the Bank. In 1806, in consequence of his talents for finance, he was invited to enter into the service of Prussia, and was employed in the ministry. While the French had possession of Berlin, he followed the court to Königsberg and Memel, and resided for a time at Riga. After the reestablishment of tranquillity at Berlin, the foundation of the new university drew his attention again more directly to his favourite studies; and at the urgent request of his friends he commenced, at the opening of the university in 1810, his first. course of lectures on Roman History. Encouraged by the distinguished favour with which these lectures were received, not only by the students, but by the learned and intelligent of all classes; and living in daily and intimate intercourse with scholars like Buttmann, Spalding, Heindorf, and Von Savigny; he was led to expand this course into his great work, the History of

* "Welcher Name unter den Reisenden! des Mannes, der nichts sagt, was er nicht sah, and was er sah, sah wie es ist!" J. von Müller, Vorrede zu Persepolis, Herder's Werke, zur Philos. u. Gesch. Th. I. p. 11.

ancient Rome, of which the first and second volumes appeared in 1811 and 1812.

He was twice sent as ambassador to Holland, first in 1808, and again in 1814. In 1816, he was sent by the king of Prussia as ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Rome. It is understood that the appointment was given to him with the special view, that the historian of Rome might have opportunity to pursue his studies in the midst of the eternal' city. That a sojourn among the scenes which he was engaged in describing, should exert a strong influence upon his critical judgment; that in examining the localities around him, very much would present itself to him under a new and more striking aspect; was not only to be expected, but has been realized to the public, in the subsequent editions of his great work. His very entrance into Italy was signalized by one of the most important literary discoveries of modern times, that of the lost Institutes of Gaius in the cathedral library at Verona. At Rome, besides his official duties and the studies connected with his historical works, he employed his leisure moments in examining the manuscripts of the Vatican; the result of which he gave to the public in 1820, in his collection of unpublished Fragments of Cicero and Livy. The removal of Angelo Mai to the Vatican, prevented his proceeding further in this course; though he took the liveliest interest in the publication of Cicero's Republic, discovered by the latter. As a scholar and diplomatist he lived with dignity and enjoyed the highest respect; while his house was the resort of the learned men and artists of all countries, who congregate at Rome.

On his return to Germany in 1823, he remained six weeks at St. Gall in Switzerland, in order to examine the manuscripts in that celebrated library. His labours were only rewarded by the discovery of some remains of the later Roman poetry, in the works of Merobaudes. His journey terminated somewhat unexpectedly at the newly established university of Bonn, where, during the winter of 1823-24, he occupied himself in preparations for the third volume of his History. Here he at length fixed his residence. The consciousness of the disproportion between the first two volumes of his history, printed twelve years before, and the riper progress of his subsequent researches, became now so vivid, that he resolved to rewrite them. At the same time he took up again the long abandoned calling of a public lecturer,-not as a professor of the univer

sity, but in connexion with his privilege as member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences at Berlin. His lectures on Roman History and Antiquities, on Greek History, on the History of the ancient and modern World, and on ancient Geography and Statistics, riveted the attention of his numerous auditors, by the richness of the materials, profoundness of investigation, and the freshness and vividness of the views. The remodeling of the early volumes of his History, became rather a new creation. The first volume appeared in 1827, and a third edition of it in 1828. The second volume, in its new dress, appeared only a few months before his death. The preparations for the third volume, which was to complete his plan, were already made, and the manuscript of the first sheets ready for the press, when a fire in the night destroyed the upper story of his house, and with it this manuscript. Seven weeks after this calamity, however, the destroyed manuscript was replaced, and the printing commenced. It is understood that the preparations for this volume are in such a state, that we may hope for the completion of the work, in the same style and spirit, from one of his surviving friends.

Another important enterprise which he instigated, and of which he undertook the superintendence, was a new edition of the Byzantine historians. He himself led the way by a critical revision of the work of Agathias. Of this great collection, eight or ten volumes had appeared before his death; and the work is to be continued under the patronage of the Berlin Academy of Sci

ences.

After seven years of restless literary activity at Bonn, Niebuhr was seized with an inflammatory fever on Christmas day, 1830, and died Jan. 2, 1831. His second wife survived him only twelve days.*

The biographical sketch, from which the following article is translated, was first published in 1816. This should every where be borne in mind while reading it; and especially in

* For most of the preceding notices, the Editor is indebted to an article in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung for March 1831, Intelligenzblatt No. 14.

It first appeared in the Kieler Blätter, and was afterwards published separately. At a later period it was revised by the author, and inserted in the collection of his smaller treatises published under the title: Kleine historische und philologische Schriften von B. G. Niebuhr. Erste Sammlung. Bonn, 1828.