ally, which he
read with ease; and his knowledge of geography enabled him to follow
all the details of a campaign with vivid interest.

His going to the university was an important incident in his life. His
particular vocation, indeed, seems to have been clear enough from even
an earlier period; for though he was a learned linguist, history
especially, and philology, were the pursuits to which his heart was
given. The letters he wrote from Kiel to his parents are amiable, full
of affectionate outpourings about the new men and women to whom he was
introduced, about his studies, and about his theories. He profits by
the kindness of the physician, Dr Hensler, whose house and friendly
advice were always accessible; but he declines evening-parties; and
contemplates the mountain of knowledge, up whose steep sides he has
yet to climb, with profound awe and some anxiety. 'My head swims when
I survey what I have yet to learn--philosophy, mathematics, physics,
chemistry, natural history. Then, too, I must perfect myself in
history, German, and French; study Roman law, and the political
constitutions of Europe, as far as I can, &c.; and all this must be
done within five years at most.... I _must_ know all these things; but
how I shall learn them, Heaven knows! That I shall require them as a
learned man, or in any position I may occupy, I am fully convinced.'

In Dr Hensler's house he saw frequently Mme Hensler, the widow of the
doctor's son. She was six years older than Niebuhr; but to him, unused
to female society, and admitted at once into domestic familiarity with
a sensible and engaging woman, this disparity was nothing--perhaps,
indeed, it added to the charm. From other sources, we learn that he at
first became attached to Mme Hensler herself; but being discouraged as
a lover, allowed her to introduce him to her younger sister, Amelia
Behrens, a beautiful and intellectual woman; and although the
attachment he then formed was not sudden or violent, it became very
profound. After his engagement with this lady in 1797, and before his
marriage, he visited England; and in Scotland--chiefly in
Edinburgh--he spent nearly a year. The account given in his letters of
his sojourn in our capital, would interest and amuse many of its
present inhabitants. The Edinburgh of 1797 was more different
perhaps from its present self in outward things, than in mental
characteristics. His remarks on the want of a more open manifestation
of feeling