village in Sweden, was for some time apprenticed to a
shoemaker; and was only rescued from his humble employment by accidentally
meeting one day a physician named Rothman, who, having entered into
conversation with him, was so much struck with his intelligence, that he
sent him to the university.

"The father of MICHAEL LOMONOSOFF, one of the most celebrated Russian
poets of the last century, and who eventually attained the highest
literary dignities in his own country, was only a simple fisherman. Young
Lomonosoff had great difficulty in acquiring as much education as enabled
him to read and write; and it was only by running away from his father's
house, and taking refuge in a monastery at Moscow, that he found means to
obtain an acquaintance with the higher branches of literature.

"The famous BEN JONSON worked for some time as a bricklayer or mason; 'and
let not them blush,' says Fuller, speaking of this circumstance in his
'English Worthies,' with his usual amusing, but often expressive
quaintness, 'let not them blush that have, but those that have not, a
lawful calling. He helped in the building of the new structure of
Lincoln's Inn, when, having a trowel in his hand, he had a book in his
pocket.'

"PETER RAMUS, one of the most celebrated writers and intrepid thinkers of
the sixteenth century, was employed in his childhood as a shepherd, and
obtained his education by serving as a lacquey in the College of Navarre.

"The Danish astronomer, LONGOMONTANUS, was the son of a labourer, and,
while attending the academical lectures at Wyburg through the day, was
obliged to work for his support during a part of the night.

"The elder DAVID PAREUS, the eminent German Protestant divine, who was
afterwards Professor of Theology at Heidelberg, was placed in his youth as
an apprentice, first with an apothecary, and then with a shoemaker.

"HANS SACHS, one of the most famous of the early German poets, and a
scholar of considerable learning, was the son of a tailor, and served an
apprenticeship himself, first to a shoemaker, and afterwards to a weaver,
at which last trade, indeed, he continued to work during the rest of his
life.

"JOHN FOLCZ, another old German poet, was a barber.

"LUCAS CORNELISZ, a Dutch painter of the sixteenth century, who visited
England during the reign of Henry VIII., and was patronized by that
monarch, was obliged, while in his own country, in order to support his
large family, to betake himself