...wrote his desiderata in the way of books, tells something of his progress and his aspirations at fourteen years of age. I wish, so it runs, to advance in the sciences, and for that I need d'anville, Ritter , an Italian dictionary, a Strabo in Greek, Mannert and Thiersch; and also the works of Malte-Brun and Seyfert. I have resolved, as far as I am allowed to do so, to become a man of letters, and at p...