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  • Aug. 1, 1795
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Aug. 1, 1795: Page 46

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    Article ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY NATURAL GENIUS, ← Page 5 of 6 →
Page 46

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Account Of An Extraordinary Natural Genius,

was obliged to content himself with his author ' s morality , politics , and remarks on metaphysics , which employed him till July 174 6 , by which time he had scraped together a sum sufficient to buy the physics which he had so earnestly desired , and this work he read twice within the year . About this time a dealer in old books sold him a volume of Wolfius ' s Mathematical Princiles at largeand the spherical

trigop , nometry which he found in this hook was a new treasure , which he was very desirous to make his own . This however cost him incredible labour , and filled every moment that he could spare from his business and his sleep for something more than a year . He proceeded to the study of the Law of Nature and Nations , and at the same time procured a little book on the terrestrial and

celestial g lobes . These books with a few that he borrowed were the sources from which he derived such a stock of knowledge , as is seldom found even among those who have associated with the inhabitants of a university , ancl had perpetual access to public libraries . Mr . Hoffman , during Ludwig ' s residence , at his house , dressed him in his own gownwith other proper habilimentsand he observes

, , that this alteration of his dress had such an effect that Hoffman could not conceive the man ' s accent or dialect to be the same , and he felt himself secretly inclined to treat him with more deference than when he was in his peasant ' s dress , though the alteration was made in his presence , and with his own apparel . ' y

It happened also that before Ludwig went home' there was an eclipse of the sun , and Mr . Hoffman proposed to his guest that he should observe this phenomenon as an astronomer , and for that purpose furnished him with proper instruments . The impatience of Ludwig till the time of the eclipse is not to be expressed , he had hitherto been acquainted with the planetary world only by books , and a view of the heavens with the naked eyehe had never yet looked through

, a telescope , and the anticipation of the pleasure which the new observation would yield him scarce suffered him either . to eat or sleep ; but it unfortunately happened , that just before the . eclipse came on the sky became cloudy , and continued so during the whole time of its continuance ; this misfortune was more than the philosophy even of Ludwig could bear ; as the cloud came on he looked up at it with the

agony of a man that expected the dissolution of nature to follow ; when it came over the sun , he stood fixed in a consternation not to be described , and when he knew the eclipse was past , his disappointment and grief were little short of distraction . Mr . Hoffman soon after went in his turn to visit Mr . Ludwig , and take a view of his dwellinghis libraryhis study and his instruments .

, , He found an old crazy cottage , the inside of which had been longblacked with smoke ; the walls were covered with propositions and diagrams written with chalk . In one corner was a bed , in another a cradle , and under a little window af the side , three pieces of board laid side by side , over two trussels made a writing table for the phi-

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1795-08-01, Page 46” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 15 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01081795/page/46/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
LONDON: Article 1
TO OUR READERS, CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 2
PRICES OF BINDING PER VOLUME. Article 2
Untitled Article 3
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY . Article 4
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF FREEMASONRY. Article 7
HISTORY OF MASONRY. Article 10
CHARACTER OF BERNARD GILPIN, Article 14
THE KHALIF AND HIS VISIER, AN ORIENTAL APOLOGUE. Article 18
ANECDOTES OF HENRI DUC DE MONTMORENCI. Article 20
EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES OF GRATITUDE. Article 24
EXTRACTS FROM A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT, CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD OF HENRY VIII. Article 25
BON MOT. Article 27
THE STAGE. Article 28
CHARACTER OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH. Article 29
A THIEF RESCUED BY AN ELEPHANT. AN AUTHENTIC ANECDOTE. Article 31
ANECDOTES OF THE LIFE OF THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA*. Article 32
ORIGIN OF ST. JAMES'S PALACE. Article 33
THE UNION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TO MAN, A SERMON, Preached in St. Andrew's Church, New Town, Edinburgh, Article 34
ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY NATURAL GENIUS, Article 42
PHYSIOGNOMICAL SKETCHES. Article 47
CURIOUS METHOD OF PROTECTING CORN. Article 50
ON COMPASSION. Article 50
ON MODESTY, AS A MASCULINE VIRTUE. Article 53
SOME ACCOUNT OF BOTANY BAY, Article 55
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE . Article 56
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE. Article 58
ON POVERTY. Article 60
DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. Article 61
POETRY. Article 64
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, A SKETCH. Article 67
TO INDUSTRY. Article 67
WRITTEN IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER, Article 68
PORTRAIT OF AN HYPOCRITE. Article 68
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 69
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 69
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Page 46

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Account Of An Extraordinary Natural Genius,

was obliged to content himself with his author ' s morality , politics , and remarks on metaphysics , which employed him till July 174 6 , by which time he had scraped together a sum sufficient to buy the physics which he had so earnestly desired , and this work he read twice within the year . About this time a dealer in old books sold him a volume of Wolfius ' s Mathematical Princiles at largeand the spherical

trigop , nometry which he found in this hook was a new treasure , which he was very desirous to make his own . This however cost him incredible labour , and filled every moment that he could spare from his business and his sleep for something more than a year . He proceeded to the study of the Law of Nature and Nations , and at the same time procured a little book on the terrestrial and

celestial g lobes . These books with a few that he borrowed were the sources from which he derived such a stock of knowledge , as is seldom found even among those who have associated with the inhabitants of a university , ancl had perpetual access to public libraries . Mr . Hoffman , during Ludwig ' s residence , at his house , dressed him in his own gownwith other proper habilimentsand he observes

, , that this alteration of his dress had such an effect that Hoffman could not conceive the man ' s accent or dialect to be the same , and he felt himself secretly inclined to treat him with more deference than when he was in his peasant ' s dress , though the alteration was made in his presence , and with his own apparel . ' y

It happened also that before Ludwig went home' there was an eclipse of the sun , and Mr . Hoffman proposed to his guest that he should observe this phenomenon as an astronomer , and for that purpose furnished him with proper instruments . The impatience of Ludwig till the time of the eclipse is not to be expressed , he had hitherto been acquainted with the planetary world only by books , and a view of the heavens with the naked eyehe had never yet looked through

, a telescope , and the anticipation of the pleasure which the new observation would yield him scarce suffered him either . to eat or sleep ; but it unfortunately happened , that just before the . eclipse came on the sky became cloudy , and continued so during the whole time of its continuance ; this misfortune was more than the philosophy even of Ludwig could bear ; as the cloud came on he looked up at it with the

agony of a man that expected the dissolution of nature to follow ; when it came over the sun , he stood fixed in a consternation not to be described , and when he knew the eclipse was past , his disappointment and grief were little short of distraction . Mr . Hoffman soon after went in his turn to visit Mr . Ludwig , and take a view of his dwellinghis libraryhis study and his instruments .

, , He found an old crazy cottage , the inside of which had been longblacked with smoke ; the walls were covered with propositions and diagrams written with chalk . In one corner was a bed , in another a cradle , and under a little window af the side , three pieces of board laid side by side , over two trussels made a writing table for the phi-

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