"At Nuremberg there were still very many features of great antiquity, which made much impression on me. Birkmann, preacher at the church of St. Giles, had kindly offered that I should take up my quarters with him. I was received by him very lovingly, and he gave me a room up-stairs, in which were his books; a neighbourhood which was very useful to me, as I was able in the evening to search out some accounts of Nuremberg, that everything might not be so entirely strange to me. As soon as I possibly could I presented myself before the gentlemen of the council, in the great hall of the Council-house, at the hour when they entered the hall from their separate rooms. The great impression made on me by this grand building, and the unusual circumstances in which I was placed, had a good effect upon me, so that I with modesty and emotion spoke out freely, which, together with my pressing recommendations, obtained me the gracious approbation of these venerable persons. Herr von Ebner, whose own learning and noble manner of thinking filled every one with respect, desired me afterwards to be told that he expected me in the afternoon at his house. I sought to recover the composure of my mind, that I might be distracted as little as possible by so many unexpected events, and turn this visit the more to my advantage. As this gentleman was almost blind I was deprived of much assistance, for by an unaffected modest attitude, which I always liked, I had elsewhere frequently procured myself a hearing, even from those who hitherto had been prepossessed against me. After I had stood some minutes, and had expressed my feelings of gratitude in the best sentences I could utter, avoiding equally bombast and common-place, he said: 'Herr Professor, your voice and speech please me so much that I regret not being able to see you distinctly. Seat yourself near me; I must speak to you on various things. The great man whom we have lost, Professor Schwarz, has especially and confidentially recommended you to me; but there is truly no want of competitors for the place which he has vacated.' Now he came to my '_miscellaneas lectiones_' parts of which had been read to him, and asked so many particulars that the conversation resembled an examination. At last he said to me, with evident pleasure, 'You are just the man; if I say it you will be chosen. I heartily wish you happiness for yourself and Altorf.' Then he caused Trident wine to be brought, and the servant was not to allow the glass to stand empty. Now he was so gracious, that when I rose he said, 'If I can provide you with a rich wife, tell me so straightforwardly.' I kissed his hand reverently, pressed it with my forehead, and said at once, with great feeling, 'I thank you.' 'I shall be all the better pleased,' he said, 'if you have no disquiet in your outward life.' He desired me, when I returned again from Altorf, to ask for him; meanwhile he took me into his garden, and wished to talk on other