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    Life and Writings of Herder. 841

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    : Account Of Herder's Life And Writings.

    obliged , & o devote himself to the study of law , and many hoursg to the great loss of literature and religion , were consumed in the mechanical toil of perusui ^ or excerpting piles of legal documents , which he wished and had iot ^ nded to employ in the prosecution of labours more worthy of his genius , and more fitted to benefit the world . The improvement of scholastic in » siructiori was an object which he iiad greatly at heart * He received a

    comlaissioQ from , the Duke to draw up a comprehensive plan of reformations in * tthis department ; add the fruit of his meditations and inquiries may be seen iq the various pieces which are collected in his works under the title of 46 Sophron . ' With that true philosophy which thinks nothing beneath its care thai is really useful , we find him publishing , in 1786 9 an improved Ao B . C , book , and 9 afterwards , various other elementary little works for the use of Catechumens and lower schools ,, To raise the character of the public services of religion , and to revive in the churches the decayed spirit of a

    pure arid simple Christianity , was another of his plans , to which he attached great importance , and in promoting which he was not the less zealous from marking the restless and innovating tendencies of the ageo He was greatly annoyed by the arrogance and conceit of the young divines , more especially of Jeca , who prided themselves on being followers of Kant , and who , entertaining all the wild and lawless theories that were then current , respected neither age , nor character , nor doctrine ., but openly inveighed against the duties and the truth which mankind lhad till then held sacred . One of these

    young men , after having written against the institution of rr & arnage had rudely demanded admission to some ecclesiastical office ; and about the same time , Fichte had declared , from his Professor ' s Chair at Jena , that 66 in five years Christianity would cease to exist , and reason would become the religion of mankind . " This was more than Herder , with his profound reverence for the principles of morality and religion , could patiently endure *

    Though he respected the character of Kant , he saw and he deplored the perversion and misapplication of his doctrines ; and with his constitutional ardour once more launched into controversy , and produced his * ' Metacriticism on the Criticism of Pure Reason , " and his " Calligone . " He would have proceeded further , and had another ready for the press , i 6 On the Injurious Influence of the Critical Philosophy on Morality and the Inward Happiness of Man ; " but the dispute waxed hot , and Herder was persuaded by several of his friends to retire from a contest in which they considered him already to have gained the advantage *

    In 1801 3 Herder was ennobled by letters patent from the Elector of Bavaria . As the honour was solicited on his part , the transaction exposed him to some obloquy , and can be excused only by the circumstances which occasioned it . His son Adelbent , who was an agriculturist , had purchased ! an estate in the Upper Palatinate . According to the Bavarian law , a Burgher could not be secured in the possession of baronial property againsft the privilege of redemption by a nobleman , within one year from the time

    of the purchase . Now , the property purchased by Herder ' s sou was threatened with the exercise of this privilege on the past of a Bavarian nobleman ; and against it he could defend himself only by the ennobling of his family . Herder's feelings and principles were all averse to the prosecution of such a claim ; but parental fondness prevailed over other considerations ; asid for the three remaining years of his life he enjoyed the distinction of signing himself , J . G . von Herder * The concession might imply weakness ; but surely we should reserve our principal indignation for the feudal barbarism

    Life And Writings Of Herder. 841

    Life and Writings of Herder . 841

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 841, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/41/