Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/518

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
MUL
474
MUL

could sustain. He was carried to Sonnenstein, near Pirna, in the hope that change of air would restore him, but he died there May 3, 1816. The proof of his plate, which arrived from Paris a day or two after his decease, was suspended over the head of his bier as he lay dead. Müller's "Madonna di San Sisto "is of the same size as, and was intended as a companion to, R. Morghen's print of the Transfiguration. It is quite worthy of that great work, and is by some considered to be superior to it. As the production of so young a man it is remarkable for the matured taste and judgment displayed in it, even more than for its brilliancy. At the sale of the prints of Mr. Johnson of Oxford, a fine proof of it sold for £120, while a proof of his St. John, after Domenichino, brought £38. Friedrich Müller only engraved eighteen plates in all.—J. T—e.

* MÜLLER, Ferdinand, a German botanist, is at present director of the botanic garden at Melbourne in Australia. He has made botanical excursions in that continent, and is now engaged in publishing a work on the flora of Australia. He has contributed papers to the Kew Miscellany, the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, and various periodicals. He has contributed plants to the herbaria of this country, and has described many new Australian genera and species. The garden at Melbourne under his direction, has acquired celebrity as a school for botany.—J. H. B.

* MÜLLER (Friedrich) Max, Taylorian professor at Oxford, an eminent contributor to, and expositor of the modern science of language, was born at Dessau on the 6th December, 1823. He was the son of Wilhelm Müller, noticed below. Educated by his mother at home and at the gymnasium of Dessau, Max Müller was placed under the care of Professor Cams, and studied at the university of Leipsic, where he devoted himself to the classics and to philosophy. At Leipsic he began the study of Sanscrit, and his translation of the Hitopadesa was published there in 1844. In that year he went to Berlin to study philology under Bopp, philosophy under Schelling, and the Sanscrit MSS. of the Prussian capital. In 1845 he proceeded to Paris and its oriental manuscripts, and at the instigation of Burnouf began his labours as editor of the Rig-Veda. With a view to this enterprise he came in 1846 to England, and collated MSS. in the East India house and the Bodleian. In 1847, at the recommendation of the late professor Horace Hayman Wilson, the directors of the East India Company consented to defray the expense of publishing his edition of the Rig-Veda. After five years of labour, and cheered by the encouragement of Humboldt, Burnouf, Bunsen, and Wilson, he published in 1849 vol. i. of the Rig-Veda Sanhita, or sacred hymns of the Brahmins, with the commentary of Sayanacharya. A second volume followed in 1853, and a third in 1856. In 1850 the editor of the Rig-Veda was appointed deputy Taylorian professor of modern languages at Oxford, and in 1854 on the death of Dr. Trithen, he was elected to the professorship. In 1855 he composed, at the suggestion of Sir Charles Trevelyan, his "Languages of the seat of war in the East," in which he first exhibited to the general public his knowledge of languages and his original views on the philosophy of language. In 1859 appeared his valuable "History of ancient Sanscrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the primitive religion of the Brahmins." In 1861 Professor Müller delivered at the Royal Institution, London, a series of lectures on the science of languages, published in the same year. A work at once popular and profound, it embodies the latest results of what used to be called comparative philology, and the latest theories of the most successful of its contemporary cultivators in England. Professor Müller is an M.A. of Oxford and fellow of All Souls. He is a corresponding member of the French Institute.—F. E.

MULLER, Gerhard Friedrich, was born in Westphalia in 1705, and educated under Gottsched at Leipsic. Proceeding to St. Petersburg he received an appointment as professor of history, and accompanied J. G. Gmelin and De L'Isle de la Croyere on their journey through Siberia. In 1744 he wrote a dissertation on the trade of Siberia; in 1747 was appointed historiographer of the Russian empire; in 1766 keeper of the archives at Moscow; and after devoting the remainder of his life almost entirely to literary labour, he died in 1783. His most valuable work is the "Sammlung Russischer Geschichte," a collection of pieces relating to Russian history.—W. J. P.

MULLER, Jan, a celebrated Dutch engraver, was born at Amsterdam about 1570. He was a scholar of H. Goltzius, whose manner he imitated and exaggerated. He engraved a large number of plates in a free and spirited, but somewhat monotonous style. Among the best of his subject prints are the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, after J. van Aachen; the Raising of Lazarus, after A. Bloemart; the Passion, after Lucas van Leyden; and a large print of the Camp of Ulysses, after Cornelis. He also engraved a large number of his own designs, and several portraits, some of which are much esteemed. His dated prints range between 1589 and 1625. He died about 1630.—J. T—e.

MÜLLER, Johannes von, the great historian, was born at Schaffhausen, 3rd January, 1752, where his father held a mastership in the gymnasium. The first seeds of historical science were implanted in his tender mind by his maternal grandfather, a clergyman, who was well conversant with the history of the confederacy. They fell on so fruitful a soil, that the boy at the age of nine years tried his hand at a chronicle of his native town. Being intended for the church he proceeded to Göttingen, where he succeeded in combining theological and historical studies. To the latter he was particularly instigated by Schlözer, under whose guidance he took the first steps in literary composition, and wrote his "Bellum Cimbricum," which appeared in 1772. After finishing his university career he obtained the Greek professorship in the gymnasium of his native town, which he, however, resigned two years later (1774) at the instance of his friend Bonstetten, who wished to introduce him into a larger sphere of progress and action. He therefore removed to Geneva, where he became private tutor in the family of Councillor Tronchin; and by numerous acquaintances with the foremost scholars of his country was greatly advanced in his studies. In 1775 he became attached as tutor to Mr. Kinloch, a young American gentleman then residing on Lake Leman; after whose return to America he lived for a time with his friend Bonstetten and other kind patrons. During all these changes he never relaxed his studies; but had, on the contrary, progressed so far that in 1780 he could publish the first volume of his "Swiss History." In the hope of meeting with suitable employment in Prussia, Müller went to Berlin, where he had an audience of Frederick the Great, who by the reading of his "Essais Historiques" had conceived a favourable opinion of him. Notwithstanding, he did not succeed, and therefore accepted a chair at Cassel which was offered him by the landgrave. The desire to continue his "Swiss History" in his own country made him resign this office, and hurried him back to his dear lake of Geneva, In 1786 he accepted an appointment as librarian and councillor from the elector of Mayence, by which he became involved in diplomatic and state affairs. This career was cut short by the invasion of the French, and Müller had to retire to Vienna, where his services had been eagerly sought for. When, however, he was prohibited from publishing his "Swiss History" (even out of Austria), and his preferment was made dependent on his embracing the Roman catholic faith, he resigned, and again repaired to Berlin, where he was appointed historiographer, and where he prepared to write the history of Frederick the Great. The famous interview, however, which he had with Napoleon after the battle of Jena, was by his enemies and detractors construed into something like treason. He was dismissed, and hastened to Tübingen, where he was offered the chair of history. On the road he was overtaken by a messenger from Napoleon, who immediately summoned him to Fontainebleau. Here he was, much against his will, made minister in the recently created kingdom of Westphalia—a position in which he could not but feel ill at ease. This uneasiness, over-exertion, and sorrow over the loss of his hard-earned fortune, so preyed upon his mind and undermined his health that on the 29th May, 1809, he died at Cassel. Müller's character has been impeached for his serving the French usurper; but it does not appear that he did so from real attachment to Napoleon or from contempt of his country. In all relations of life he was an upright, single-minded, and truly pious man. He may have erred and vacillated, but his intentions were good and honourable. He enjoyed the esteem and friendship of the best men of his time—of Bonstetten, Gleim, F. H. Jacobi, Herder, Füssli, and others. His letters to Bonstetten, which have been published by Friederike Brun, "Briefe eines jungen Gelehrten an seinen Freund, Tübingen, 1803," are a lasting monument of the truest and noblest friendship. Müller has also been attacked on religious grounds, since his "Reisen der Päpste" raised great doubts concerning his protestantism. But by the precipitate and arbitrary reforms of Joseph II., Müller had been led