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AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, PRINCE OF PRUSSIA. 1227
John Bernard Merian was born in 1723 at Liestal, near Bâle in
Switzerland. When seventeen years old he took his degree of
doctor of philosophy. Having tried in vain for a chair in the uni
versity, he took orders and became a preacher. Afterwards he
accepted a situation as teacher in Amsterdam, where he remained
until 1771 , when he was invited to the Academy of Sciences in
Berlin. There he laboured in the class of philosophy until 1791 ,
when he joined the class of belles-lettres. In 1797 he was appointed
perpetual secretary to the Academy. He died in 1807. Merian was
distinguished for the impartiality of his opinions, his immense learning
and extraordinary memory; which, however, as his biographer
observes, "did not deprive him of the ability to express himself with
taste, sobriety, and precision." He further says of him, that "he was
more intent on conveying to others useful information, than shining
before them by his learning and perspicacity." In philosophy he
opposed the systems of Locke, Condillac, Leibnitz, and Wolf, and
thus approached nearer the idealistic school.
NOTE 246.
AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, PRINCE OF PRUSSIA.
Augustus William, who figures so prominently in the story of
the Queen of Sweden and Swedenborg, related in Document 275,
was born on August 9, 1722. He was heir apparent to Frederic
the Great, so declared by Frederic himself on June 30, 1744. He
lost the battle of Hastenbeck on July 26, 1757, at which the King,
his brother, was greatly displeased. The following is the message
he received from the King (see Carlyle’s Frederic the Great, Vol. V,
p. 130) : "His Majesty commands me to inform Your Royal Highness,
That he has cause to be greatly discontented with you ; that you
deserve to have a court-martial held over you, which would sentence
you and all your Generals to death ; but that His Majesty will not
carry the matter so far, being unable to forget that in the Chief
General he has a brother." A correspondence ensued between the
two Royal brothers ; after which the Prince applied for leave to
return home, which was granted. He died within a year, on June
12, 1758, at Oranienbaum, with his family, "of chagrin," as the
messenger told the King when he inquired "what he died of?"
Augustus William was the father of the Kings of Prussia who
succeeded Frederic the Great.
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