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    which they ^ oth composed together unde , r the title of School Dialogues , fcQUi 1777 to 1 770 * and a pttblic examination which went off with eclat , gave a transient splendour to the

    Phuqnthrapinon ; but in a short time , Basedow . quarrelled with Canipe , m ade complaints against bis Prince , quitted , and returned to the care of the institution , and exemplifying in his conduct the effects of coarse manners

    and bad temper , was at length drawn into the most scandalous scenes in his disputes with Professor Wolke , his former coadjutor . This institution was finally shut up iu 1793 * Basedow for some time had given up all thoughts of education i he returned to his old

    theological inquiries , and residing sometimes at Magdeburgh , sometimes at Halle , sometimes at Leipsie , he took part in the famous controversy excited , in Germany by the Fragments of WolfienbuteL , an anonymous posthumous work of Reimaius , published by

    jessing . Doctor Secnler having written a pretended refutation ofthe 2 ? rag menis , I ^ asedow , without difficulty , exposed the , UV intentions of the author , who secretly attacked the cause he affected to defend ; and , with his usual vehemence and frankness , called

    upon Semler todeclar £ himself openly , offering to indemnify him with his fortune , if this public declaration should prove prejudicial to him . _ Semler made no reply , and Basedow wrote on . He published his work , entitled * Jesus Christ , the Christian World , and

    the small Number of the Elect , in 1784 ; and the year following , returning to the study , which had divided his time and his powers with theology , he gave the public bis New J ^ tethocU of Learning to Heady which he employed with succe ^ iii two schools of little girJs at Magdefon £ gJ }< 3 and in this , occupation

    be passed four hours every day for some time previous . to his death , which topk place in this ciiy , Jujy 25 , 1790 . He cj iscj with Christian firmness and resignation , and desired that bis body might be opened , wishing , ( to use his own words ) to be still useful to his fellow-citizens after his death . In

    1797 * a monument of marble was erected on the spot where he was buried . To manners unpolished and abrupt , he joined gross habits ; he was fond

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    of wine , ef which he drank to excess ; in short , with a character in itself unatniable , he seemed , by his conduct , sometimes to take pains to render his services of no use , and his virtues of no account Nothing can give a

    better idea of him than what he says of himself : " The sagacious reader will discover by my writings , that I have been especially called to serve the cause of truth and humanity , in following a path hitherto unknown . My opinions have succeeded one another ,

    as has been seen . 1 have been at different times Lutheran , sceptic , infidel , a friend to natural religion , a convert to Christianity , a Christian with paradoxical sentiments , and more and more Iveterodox . In me has been seen a thinker tormented within by his own

    reflections , and a writer tormented from without , because he has been at one time hated , at another misunderstood . ' Bold and enterprising in my actions , I have always seen , with a faltering heart , the dangers which threatened me , and from which

    Providence has saved nae in part . I have made little account of domestic happiness , of friendship , or society . I have suffered the penalty . Occupied in curing others , I have neglected the

    health of my own mind . Esteem is due to the sincerity of my opinions , rather than to my conduct . 1 desired ardently to make it perfect , but tbia would have required more perseverance and more attention than the

    meditation of abstract truths ; , accordingl y * I have oftener been dissatisfied with myself than with others , with whom , however , for the same reason , I have been rarely satisfied . My heart baa had little enjoyment of the consolations of religion , because every occasion led me into difficult researches , and thus weakened the force of

    sentiment . I regard myself as a man and a Christian , such as there are but few in the world * and . such as it is not desirable that there should be many /* This frankness , without affectation and without pride , induces us to honour the character of a m * x \ who has

    rendered some services to his country and his age . His work , On the Education of JPrinces destined to the Throne * has been translated into French- by Bourjoing . A list of his writings may be seen in MeuseVs Lexicon of German

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    Memoir of John Bernard Basedow . 515

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1817, page 515, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2468/page/3/