ENGELBERT KÆMPFER.
Born 1651.—Died 1716.
This distinguished traveller was born on the 16th
of September, 1651, at Lemgow, a small town in the
territories of the Count de Lippe, in the circle of
Westphalia. His father, who was a clergyman, bestowed
upon his son a liberal education suitable to
the medical profession, for which he was designed.
It is probable, however, that the numerous removals
from one city to another which took place in the
course of his education,—his studies, which commenced
at Hameln, in the duchy of Brunswick,
having been successively pursued at Lunebourg,
Hamburgh, Lubeck, Dantzick, Thorn, Cracow, and
Kœnigsberg,—communicated to his character a portion
of that restless activity and passion for vicissitude
which marked his riper years. But these
changes of scene by no means impaired his ardour
for study. Indeed, the idea of one day opening himself
a path to fame as a traveller appears, on the
contrary, to have imparted additional keenness to
his thirst for knowledge; his comprehensive and
sagacious mind very early discovering in how many
ways a knowledge of antiquity, of literature, and
the sciences might further the project he had formed
of enlarging the boundaries of human experience.
Having during his stay at Kœnigsberg acquired a competent knowledge of natural history and the theory of medicine, he returned at the age of thirty to his own country; whence, after a brief visit, he again departed for Prussia and Sweden. Wherever he went, the number and variety of his acquirements, the urbanity of his manners, and the romance and
