THE LATE ELIHU BURRITT.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1660, 16 June 1879, Page 4

THE LATE ELIHU BURRITT.

The telegraph announces the death of this distinguished American philologist, who forty years ago was familiarly known in America and Europe as the “ Learned Blacksmith.” The following notice of his career is from the “ Globe Democrat ” (St. Louis) : TTi« father died when he was only seventeen, and following the example of his brother, ho apprenticed himself to a blacksmith, and undertook the chief care of the family. The only education he had then received had been given by a little schooling during three months every winter, but he had imbibed a passion for reading which was for long satisfied by a diligent perusal of the Bible, and such stray sermons and homilies as he could pick up in his mother’s scanty collection, and at the house of the minister of the village. At 21 he placed himself under his brother, who had opened a school at New Britain. It is said that in six months he mastered sufficient Latin to read most of Yirgil in the original. He also acquired at the same time a very fair knowledge of Fror.ch and a little Spanish. He then bought a Greek grammar, and studied it in the intervals of his work at the smithy, and then migrated to Hew Haven, and began the study of German. He took up his quarters in an inn, and subsequently described his mode of„ life in the following language : « As soon as the man who attended the fires had made one in the common sittingroom, which was about 430 in the morning, I arose and studied German till breakfast, which was served at 7 30, When the boarders were gone to their places of business I sat down to ‘ Homer’s Iliad,’ without a note or comment to assist mo, and with a Greek and Latin lexicon. A few minutes before the people came in to their dinners I put away all my Greek and Latin, and began reading Italian, which was less calculated to attract the notice of the noisy men who at that hour thronged the room. After dinner I took a short walk j I then sat down again to * Homer's Iliad,’ with a determination to master it without a master. The proudest moment of my life was when I first possessed myself of the full meaning of the first fifteen lines of that noble work. I took a triumphal walk in celebration of that exploit. In the evening I read in the Spanish language until bedtime. I followed this course for two or three months, at the end of which time I had read about the whole of the Iliad in Greek, and made considerable progress in French, Italian, German, and Spanish.” This was begun in the autumn, and when winter was over ho was again at home, girded with his leather apron. The fame of his learning, however, had flown before him, and he was asked to take the management of a grammar school in a neighbouring town. At the end of a year, however, his health broke down from the confinement and want of exercise, and he became travelling agent to a manufacturing company. He took his books with him on his journeys, and during the year hie engagement lasted he read the Hebrew Bible and some of the best Spanish literature. The tale of his difficulties and his progress was told in his first work, a story called “My Brother’s Grave.” For a short time he was in business for himself, but he was unsuccessful, and finally determined to visit Europe for the purpose of acquiring the Oriental languages by the help of books he was unable to procure at homo. He set out for Boston on foot, but finding no vessel ready to sail changed his mind and went to Worcester, where he found employment as a journeyman blacksmith, with twelve dollars a month and board as wages. There ho continued his studies with the most severe labour. His manual labour was hard, but his mental yet h&dor. Its full character, indeed, can only be realised after reading the following extract rora a week’s diary. “Monday, June 18th —Headache; forty pages ‘ Cuvier’s Theory of the Earth,’ sixtyfour pages French, eleven hours’ forging. Tuesday—Sixty-five lines Hebrew, thirty pages of French, ten pages of ‘Cuvier’s Theory,’ eight lines Syriac, ten ditto Danish, ten ditto Bohemian, nine ditto Polish, fifteen names of stars, ten hours’ forging. Wednes-day—Twenty-five lines of Hebrew, fifty pages of astronomy, eleven hours’ forging. Thurs-day—Fifty-five lines Hebrew, eight ditto Syriac, eleven hours’ forging. Friday—Unwell; twelve hours’ ferging. SaturdayUnwell; fifty pages natural philosophy, ten hours’ forging, Sunday—Lesson for Bible class.”

As if all these tongues were not enough, he soon added Oelto-Eritish, and in 1839 commenced a monthly periodical at Worcester in French and English, In 1814 he began the “ Christian Citizen,” and from that time, both at home in America and on all his travels in Europe, he placed himself in the front ranks of the advocates of a universal peace, seeking to establish some method of adjusting international differences more in accordance with Christianity than the barbarisms of war. Ho was for several years as Consul in Birmingham, and spent altogether twenty-five years in England, where he was honored by all. Of late years he has suffered from illhealth, but almost to the last added that marvellous acquaintance with languages for which he is so celebrated. His chief works were : “Sparks from the Anvil,” “ Olive Leaves,” “ Thoughts and Things at Home and Abroad,” and “ A Walk from John O’Groat’s to Land’s End.” He has also published a number of miscellaneous essays, lectures and speeches.