Having not been able to procure materials for a complete life of Mr.
Barretier, and being, nevertheless, willing to gratify the curiosity
justly raised in the publick by his uncommon attainments, we think the
following extracts of letters written by his father, proper to be
inserted in our collection, as they contain many remarkable passages,
and exhibit a general view of his genius and learning.
John Philip Barretier was born at Schwabach, January 19, 1720-21. His
father was a calvinist minister of that place, who took upon himself
the care of his education. What arts of instruction he used, or by
what method he regulated the studies of his son, we are not able to
inform the publick; but take this opportunity of intreating those, who
have received more complete intelligence, not to deny mankind so great
a benefit as the improvement of education. If Mr. le Fêvre thought the
method in which he taught his children, worthy to be communicated to
the learned world, how justly may Mr. Barretier claim the universal
attention of mankind to a scheme of education that has produced such a
stupendous progress! The authors, who have endeavoured to teach
certain and unfailing rules for obtaining a long life, however they
have failed in their attempts, are universally confessed to have, at
least, the merit of a great and noble design, and to have deserved
gratitude and honour. How much more then is due to Mr. Barretier, who
has succeeded in what they have only attempted? for to prolong life,
and improve it, are nearly the same. If to have all that riches can
purchase, is to be rich; if to do all that can be done in a long time,
is to live long; he is equally a benefactor to mankind, who teaches
them to protract the duration, or shorten the business of life.
That there are few things more worthy our curiosity than this method,
by which the father assisted the genius of the son, every man will be
convinced, that considers the early proficiency at which it enabled
him to arrive; such a proficiency as no one has yet reached at the
same age, and to which it is, therefore, probable, that every
advantageous circumstance concurred.
_At the age of nine years he not only was master of five
languages_, an attainment in itself almost incredible, but
understood, says his father, the holy writers, better in their
original tongues, than in his own. If he means, by this assertion,
that he knew the sense of many passages in the original, which were
obscure in the translation, the account, however wonderful, may be
admitted; but if he intends to tell his correspondent, that his son
was better acquainted with the two languages of the Bible than with
his own, he must be allowed to speak hyperbolically, or to admit, that
his son had somewhat neglected the study of his native language; or we
must own, that the fondness of a parent has transported him into some
natural exaggerations.
Part of this letter I am tempted to suppress, being unwilling to
demand the belief of others to that which appears incredible to
myself; but as my incredulity may, perhaps, be the product rather of
prejudice than reason, as envy may beget a disinclination to admit so
immense a superiority, and as an account is not to be immediately
censured as false, merely because it is wonderful, I shall proceed to
give the rest of his father's relation, from his letter of the 3rd of
March, 1729-30. He speaks, continues he, German, Latin, and French,
equally well. He can, by laying before him a translation, read any of
the books of the Old or New Testament, in its original language,
without hesitation or perplexity. _He is no stranger to biblical
criticism_ or philosophy, nor unacquainted with ancient and modern
geography, and is qualified to support a conversation with learned
men, who frequently visit and correspond with him.
In his eleventh year, he not only published a learned letter in Latin,
but translated the travels of rabbi Benjamin from the Hebrew into
French, which he illustrated with notes, and accompanied with
dissertations; a work in which his father, as he himself declares,
could give him little assistance, as he did not understand the
rabbinical dialect.
The reason for which his father engaged him in this work, was only to
prevail upon him to write a fairer hand than he had hitherto
accustomed himself to do, by giving him hopes, that, if he should
translate some little author, and offer a fair copy of his version to
some bookseller, he might, in return for it, have other books which he
wanted and could not afford to purchase.
Incited by this expectation, he fixed upon the travels of rabbi
Benjamin, as most proper for his purpose, being a book neither bulky
nor common, and in one month completed his translation, applying only
one or two hours a day to that particular task. In another month, he
drew up the principal notes; and, in the third, wrote some
dissertations upon particular passages which seemed to require a
larger examination.
These notes contain so many curious remarks and inquiries, out of the
common road of learning, and afford so many instances of penetration,
judgment, and accuracy, that the reader finds, in every page, some
reason to persuade him that they cannot possibly be the work of a
child, but of a man long accustomed to these studies, enlightened by
reflection, and dextrous, by long practice, in the use of books. Yet,
that it is the performance of a boy thus young, is not only proved by
the testimony of his father, but by the concurrent evidence of Mr. le
Maître, his associate in the church of Schwabach, who not only asserts
his claim to this work, but affirms, that he heard him, at six years
of age, explain the Hebrew text, as if it had been his native
language; so that the fact is not to be doubted without, a degree of
incredulity, which it will not be very easy to defend.
This copy was, however, far from being written with the neatness which
his father desired; nor did the booksellers, to whom it was offered,
make proposals very agreeable to the expectations of the young
translator; but, after having examined the performance in their
manner, and determined to print it upon conditions not very
advantageous, returned it to be transcribed, that the printers might
not be embarrassed with a copy so difficult to read.
Barretier was now advanced to the latter end of his twelfth year, and
had made great advances in his studies, notwithstanding an obstinate
tumour in his left hand, which gave him great pain, and obliged him to
a tedious and troublesome method of cure; and reading over his
performance, was so far from contenting himself with barely
transcribing it, that he altered the greatest part of the notes,
new-modelled the dissertations, and augmented the book to twice its
former bulk.
The few touches which his father bestowed upon the revisal of the
book, though they are minutely set down by him in the preface, are so
inconsiderable, that it is not necessary to mention them; and it may
be much more agreeable, as well as useful, to exhibit the short
account which he there gives of the method by which he enabled his son
to show, so early, how easy an attainment is the knowledge of the
languages, a knowledge which some men spend their lives in
cultivating, to the neglect of more valuable studies, and which they
seem to regard as the highest perfection of human nature.
What applauses are due to an old age, wasted in a scrupulous attention
to particular accents and etymologies, may appear, says his father, by
seeing how little time is required to arrive at such an eminence in
these studies as many, even of these venerable doctors, have not
attained, for want of rational methods and regular application.
This censure is, doubtless, just, upon those who spend too much of
their lives upon useless niceties, or who appear to labour without
making any progress; but, as the knowledge of language is necessary,
and a minute accuracy sometimes requisite, they are by no means to be
blamed, who, in compliance with the particular bent of their own
minds, make the difficulties of dead languages their chief study, and
arrive at excellence proportionate to their application, since it was
to the labour of such men that his son was indebted for his own
learning.
The first languages which Barretier learned were the French, German,
and Latin, which he was taught, not in the common way, by a multitude
of definitions, rules, and exceptions, which fatigue the attention and
burden the memory, without any use proportionate to the time which
they require, and the disgust which they create. The method by which
he was instructed was easy and expeditious, and, therefore, pleasing.
He learned them all in the same manner, and almost at the same time,
by conversing in them indifferently with his father.
The other languages, of which he was master, he learned by a method
yet more uncommon. The only book which he made use of was the Bible,
which his father laid before him in the language that he then proposed
to learn, accompanied with a translation, being taught, by degrees,
the inflections of nouns and verbs. This method, says his father, made
the Latin more familiar to him, in his fourth year, than any other
language.
When he was near the end of his sixth year, he entered upon the study
of the Old Testament, in its original language, beginning with the
book of Genesis, to which his father confined him for six months;
after which he read cursorily over the rest of the historical books,
in which he found very little difficulty, and then applied himself to
the study of the poetical writers, and the prophets, which he read
over so often, with so close an attention, and so happy a memory, that
he could not only translate them, without a moment's hesitation, into
Latin or French, but turn, with the same facility, the translations
into the original language in his tenth year.
Growing, at length, weary of being confined to a book which he could
almost entirely repeat, he deviated, by stealth, into other studies,
and, as his translation of Benjamin is a sufficient evidence, he read
a multitude of writers, of various kinds. _In his twelfth year he
applied more particularly to the study of the fathers_, and
councils of the six first centuries, and began to make a regular
collection of their canons. He read every author in the original,
having discovered so much negligence or ignorance in most
translations, that he paid no regard to their authority.
Thus he continued his studies, neither drawn aside by pleasures nor
discouraged by difficulties. The greatest obstacle to his improvement
was want of books, with which his narrow fortune could not liberally
supply him; so that he was obliged to borrow the greatest part of
those which his studies required, and to return them when he had read
them, without being able to consult them occasionally, or to recur to
them when his memory should fail him.
It is observable, that neither his diligence, unintermitted as it was,
nor his want of books, a want of which he was, in the highest degree,
sensible, ever produced in him that asperity, which a long and recluse
life, without any circumstance of disquiet, frequently creates. He was
always gay, lively, and facetious; a temper which contributed much to
recommend his learning, and which some students, much superiour in
age, would consult their ease, their reputation, and their interest,
by copying from him.
In the year 1735 he published Anti-Artemonius; sive, initium evangelii
S. Joannis adversus Artemonium vindicatum; and attained such a degree
of reputation, that not only the publick, but _princes, who are
commonly the last_ by whom merit is distinguished, began to
interest themselves in his success; for, the same year, the king of
Prussia, who had heard of his early advances in literature, on account
of a scheme for discovering the longitude, which had been sent to the
Royal society of Berlin, and which was transmitted afterwards by him
to Paris and London, engaged to take care of his fortune, having
received further proofs of his abilities at his own court.
Mr. Barretier, being promoted to the cure of the church of Stetin, was
obliged to travel with his son thither, from Schwabach, through
Leipsic and Berlin, a journey very agreeable to his son, as it would
furnish him with new opportunities of improving his knowledge, and
extending his acquaintance among men of letters. For this purpose they
stayed some time at Leipsic, and then travelled to Halle, where young
Barretier so distinguished himself in his conversation with the
professors of the university, that they offered him his degree of
doctor in philosophy, a dignity correspondent to that of master of
arts among us. Barretier drew up, that night, some positions in
philosophy, and the mathematicks, which he sent immediately to the
press, and defended, the next day, in a crowded auditory, with so much
wit, spirit, presence of thought, and strength of reason, that the
whole university was delighted and amazed; he was then admitted to his
degree, and attended by the whole concourse to his lodgings, with
compliments and acclamations.
His theses, or philosophical positions, which he printed in compliance
with the practice of that university, ran through several editions in
a few weeks, and no testimony of regard was wanting, that could
contribute to animate him in his progress.
When they arrived at Berlin, the king ordered him to be brought into
his presence, and was so much pleased with his conversation, that he
sent for him almost every day during his stay at Berlin; and diverted
himself with engaging him in conversations upon a multitude of
subjects, and in disputes with learned men; on all which occasions he
acquitted himself so happily, that the king formed the highest ideas
of his capacity, and future eminence. And thinking, perhaps with
reason, that active life was the noblest sphere of a great genius, he
recommended to him the study of modern history, the customs of
nations, and those parts of learning, that are of use in publick
transactions and civil employments, declaring, that such abilities,
properly cultivated, might exalt him, in ten years, to be the greatest
minister of state in Europe.
Barretier, whether we attribute it to his moderation or inexperience,
was not dazzled by the prospect of such high promotion, but answered,
that _he was too much pleased with science and quiet_, to leave
them for such inextricable studies, or such harassing fatigues. A
resolution so unpleasing to the king, that his father attributes to it
the delay of those favours which they had hopes of receiving, the king
having, as he observes, determined to employ him in the ministry.
It is not impossible that paternal affection might suggest to Mr.
Barretier some false conceptions of the king's design; for he infers,
from the introduction of his son to the young princes, and the
caresses which he received from them, that the king intended him for
their preceptor; a scheme, says he, which some other resolution
happily destroyed.
Whatever was originally intended, and by whatever means these
intentions were frustrated, Barretier, after having been treated with
the highest regard by the whole royal family, was dismissed with a
present of two hundred crowns; and his father, instead of being fixed
at Stetin, was made pastor of the French church at Halle; a place more
commodious for study, to which they retired; Barretier being first
admitted into the Royal society at Berlin, and recommended, by the
king, to the university at Halle.
_At Halle he continued his studies_ with his usual application
and success, and, either by his own reflections, or the persuasions of
his father, was prevailed upon to give up his own inclinations to
those of the king, and direct his inquiries to those subjects that had
been recommended by him.
He continued to add new acquisitions to his learning, and to increase
his reputation by new performances, till, in the beginning of his
nineteenth year, his health began to decline, and his indisposition,
which, being not alarming or violent, was, perhaps, not at first
sufficiently regarded, increased by slow degrees for eighteen months,
during which he spent days among his books, and neither neglected his
studies, nor left his gaiety, till his distemper, ten days before his
death, deprived him of the use of his limbs: he then prepared himself
for his end, without fear or emotion, and, on the 5th of October,
1740, resigned his soul into the hands of his saviour, with
_confidence and tranquillity_.