Short Notices [pp. 580-590]

Short Notices.
scholar is now in his seventieth year. He is a Hessian by birth,
and very much attached to the particular section which he calls
his native country, although he seems at the same time zealous
of promoting the unity of Germany. That which really constitutes the indissoluble chain by which all Germans are united, in
spite of their divisions, is their language, and to the study and
elucidation of this, Jacob Grimm, by a peculiar train of events,
has been enabled to devote his most successful labours. He
was born at HIanau, on the 7th of January, 1785. His father
died when he was very young, and the limited means of the
family would have made it impossible for his mother to give her
children a liberal education, had not an aunt of theirs, who
was lady of the chamber to the Electress, sent Jacob and his
brother Wilhelm to the Lyceum at Cassel. His grandfather
was a Reformed minister; the grandson, we fear, has now
widely departed from the faith of his youth. He studied law
at the University of Marburg, where he lived on the narrowest
allowance. Among his teachers he liked Savigny best, and
soon attracted his notice. Numerous visits to Savigny, and
freedom of access to his rich library first introduced him to
that branch of study in which he was afterwards to become so
celebrated. In 1805, Savigny proposed Grimm's joining him
at Paris, to assist him there in his literary occupation. Here his
inclination for the study of the literature and poetry of the
Middle Ages was very much increased by the great amount of
leisure at his command, his access to the manuscripts of the Paris
libraries, and the purchase of some scarce books. On his return
he was appointed to some office in the War Department at Cassel,
with a yearly salary of 100 thalers. In this employment he was
kept indescribably busy, and the quantity and the dulness of
the work were very distasteful to him. In 1808 he obtained
the situation of librarian to the king of Westphalia; his salary
here was above 1000 thalers, and his duties but nominal; he devoted himself, therefore, without intermission to the study of the old
German language and poetry. From 1813 until 1815 he was
Secretary of Legation to the Hessian minister, in which capacity he was frequently in Paris and Vienna, where he made
good use of his opportunities for philological studies and researches. With the next year begins the most tranquil, laborious, and productive portion of his life. He had at length
obtained the place of librarian in the Cassel library, which he
had so much desired. Here, too, he was once more with his
brother Wilhelm, who was employed in the same way. In 1830
the two brothers were called to the University of Gittingen,
which they left seven years after to return to Cassel. From
1854.]
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