NIEBUHR
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NIEBUHR
before he had examined all the evidence; one conse- quence of which is that, under the intUience of his own creations, he sometimes extracts a meaning from a passage ^^•hich the words do not contain, and at other times arbitrarily rejects evidence when it interferes with his own hypothesis. It is true that this same power and his intuitive sagacity have sometimes enabled him to supply a link in a chain when all direct evidence was wanting, and the certainty of his conjectures in such cases is at once felt by the symmetry and consist- ency which they impart to the whole fabric of the theory.
It "must be remarked that Niebuhr's style is very faulty. It is generally deficient in perspicuity, and though eloquent passages and striking descriptions are found here and there, it wants that sustained dignity which we mark in the writings of some other dis- tinguished historians. He occasionally, too, betrays verv crude and ill-formed opinions on the internal pol- ity of other countries : witness his remarks on the rel- ative position of England and Ireland. But with all the drawbacks which the most rigorous criticism can exact, the feeling with which we contemplate his char- acter and attainments is one of almost unmixed admir- ation. He was, in fact, a rare combination of the man of business, the scholar, and the man of genius. If he had had no other claim to celebrity, he would have de- served to be mentioned among the general linguists whose attainments have from time to time astonished the world. Indeed, he was recognised as the chief of philologists in the most learned country of Europe. A very pleasing picture of his mode of living has been given by the late professor Sandford, who visited him at Bonn in 1829 (see BlachwoocVs Magazine for Jan. 1838, p. 90 sq.) ; a warm testimonj^ to the benevolence of his character and the goodness of his heart is furnish- ed by Lieber in his Reminiscences of Niehuhr ; and we see the whole man in all his relations, social, literary, and political, in the highlj' interesting collection of his letters, edited by Madame Hensler {Lebensnackrichteri ilber Barthold Georg Niebukr, aus Briefeii desselben, etc. (Hamburg, 1838, etc.), or even more completely in Miss Winkworth's admirable translation of that work (with important additions and valuable essays hy Bunsen, etc. (3 vols. 1852). See also BlachwooiTs Magazine, 1852, i, 542 sq. ; 1856, i, 244-251 ; 1860, i, 546 ; 1868, ii, 290, 291 ; Edinburgh Review, Ixxix, art. i; xcvi, p. 49 sq. ; The (Lond.) Quar. Rev. Iv, 126 sq. ; Westminster Rev. Dec. 1843 ; Xarlh Brit. Rev. Aug. 1852 ; For. Qu. Rev. June, 1828; July, 1831; Frasei-'s Magazine, July and Dec. 1852 ; North A mer. Rev. April, 1823 ; LitteWs Living Age, May 9, 1846, art. v; April 3, 1852, art. ix; Sept. 4, 1852, art. i ; Nov. 20, 1852, art. vii ; Harpers Magazine, Dec. 1873, p. 63 sq. ; English Cyclop, s. v.
Niebuhr, Karsten, a distinguished German trav- eller in the Orient, noted for his valuable contributions to the modern researches of Oriental customs, etc., was born at Ludingworth, in the ihichj' of Lauenburg, March 17, 1733, of humble but worth}' parentage. His early educational advantages were rather limited, but a thirst for knowledge kept him busy in study, even while employed as a tiller of the soil. He was especially fond of mathematics, and achieved such success in the study of geometry that he was considered competent to fill the position of land-surveyor in his native dis- trict. The little income secured from this position he laid out in books, and by the aid of a good library fitted himself for the university. He was admitted at Got- tingen, and there studied until, in 1756 or 1757, he was offered a place in the corps of Hanoverian engineers. About 1760 he entered the Danish service, and in the year following was offered employment by the Danish government in a scientific expedition to Arabia, which was then going out at the expense of that government for the purpose of enlarging Biblical knowledge, es- pecially of the Old-Testament Scriptures. The project originally contemplated only the mission of a single